BRACKNELL Town FC are hoping they will be given the green light in the next three months to begin work that will make their ground one of the most modern in non-league football, writes Dave Wright.

Last week they submitted plans to Bracknell Forest Council for major development work at Larges Lane.

And the proposed new-look venue will not only benefit the Hellenic League club.

The plans also include a crèche for Bracknell & Wokingham College and hard-court areas for Ranelagh School and other local organisations.

“There will be huge benefits for much of the local community,” said the club’s co-chairman, Kayne Steinborn-Busse.

“The town centre is being regenerated and this football club wants to be part of that bold, new look during an exciting time for the local community.”

Just staying at Larges Lane is a bold move in itself, as Steinborn-Busse explained: “For the last 30 years all the talk about Bracknell Town FC’s future was away from Larges Lane.

“When I joined the board my early aim was to clear the debts. We are on course to do that in the coming months. The investment needed for the regeneration will come from the sale of the land.

“We are looking for a local company to come on board as a main sponsor. Having their brand around the ground would generate tremendous interest and publicity for them.

“There has almost been a blinkered view that finding a new place was the only way forward. There was a great deal of talk about moving to Blue Mountain and before other possible sights were looked at.

“The stumbling block was the club did not have the resources to make a move to Blue Mountain work, as it would have needed a lot of time, expertise and hell of a lot of money in professional fees to make a move of that scale happen.

“But then I started to ask myself, why move when you are on a perfect site?

“We are right in the heart of Bracknell, the ground has been here for many, many years – more than the whole of my life – and I thought that needed to be explored more.

“I wasn’t keen spending another 10 years finding a new home so the board (of directors) decided we would focus our efforts on remaining at Larges Lane and improving this site.

“This place had fallen into such disrepair that it has got to a point now where something significant needs to happen. We are now aiming to make it happen.”

Steinborn-Busse added: “Tony Hardy, the previous secretary, had spoken about selling the land behind the goal at the Larges Lane end.

“So we picked that idea up to see what advantages there would be to do that and we decided there was some merit there. We explored it further and started to prepare the land.”

The plans submitted to the council for this strip of land along Larges Lane is for six houses and eight one and two-bedroom flats.

This means the playing pitch will be moved by around five metres towards the top end of the ground, behind which a new stand will be built. The pitch will be a 3G surface which can be used every day and in all weathers.

A lot of preparation work, including drainage, will be done to the soil before the pitch is laid. That, with fencing and floodlights, is going to cost in the region of £500,000.

Nearly a similar sum will be earmarked for building new stands and refurbishing other buildings, including adding another storey to the existing restaurant and bar.

That means a total lay out of close to £1m – which raises the question of how is a club currently saddled with debt going to afford it.

Steinborn-Busse answered: “It would be nice if a local businessman or company came on board. Having their brand around the ground would generate tremendous interest and publicity for them.

“But that’s a dream. We have had to get out our black books and reach out to friends of the club. We have received tremendous help with drawing up the plans and the whole process has been done internally.

“The board wanted to ensure that we drove the agenda, which had started last August.

“We worked with Ascot Design, whose owner Warren Joseph is a local guy with massive architectural experience.

“He offered very good advice and talked us through the process before we submitted our plans to Bracknell council last week.

“We have also had quite a few local builders and builders merchants keen to get involved, and we expect more will want to come on board once they see our plans.

Steinborn-Busse continued: “Throughout the time we have had dialogue with the Bracknell Council’s planning department and local MP, Dr Phillip Lee, and he told me in principle he supports what we are doing here.

“The aim is to make this football club a place everyone in Bracknell can be proud of, which is certainly not the case at the moment.

“It will become a community venue. The crèche will be for those at the Wokingham & Bracknell College, and we will give Ranelagh School the opportunity to use our facility for PE lessons during the week.

“In partnership with the college, we are also planning to launch an Academy for the 16 to 18-year-olds, giving them the chance to get their BTEC coaching qualifications while also receiving education.

“We would like to see that up and running for the 2017-18 season.”

Bracknell’s other co-chairman, Chris Day, added: “What is of real importance is that we will bring the whole of this football club, from the first team down to the junior section, under one roof. At the moment the youngsters are using various venues at Birch Hill, Easthampstead Park School and Garth Hill.

“With 28 teams from under-18 down and one under-18 side, we have around 700 parents connected to the club. They have no reason to come to Larges Lane and many probably don’t even know where our ground is.

“Bringing the whole section together can only benefit the club all-round and we want to make them proud when they use our facility.”

Steinborn-Busse continued: “This club has fallen behind the surrounding village clubs, like Ascot United and Binfield, in terms of what they can offer, and we have to turn that around.

“We want the best players playing for Bracknell and we want to do that from our youngest teams up to senior level.

“The aim is to take this club to the highest level in non-league football.”

However, all these bold and ambitious plans for Bracknell Town are relying on Bracknell Forest Council giving planning permission.

The club’s directors are hoping to hear back inside 12 weeks and, with a number of developers and builders already being sounded out, work could commence in May.