Decision due on new Cheltenham community and sports hub

More than £500,000 is expected to be approved to replace a football club’s “rotting” facilities.

Cheltenham Borough Council will vote on whether to unlock the money to transform Saracens FC’s clubhouse into a community and sports hub on Tuesday.

As the landowner, the council is also looking to grant two leases to move the plans which already have planning permission forward.

Chair of Petersfield Partnership, Gary Goodhall previously told the BBC the club’s facilities are “literally rotting and are in desperate need of replacement”.

Currently, the clubhouse facilities are housed within two shipping containers at the club’s Petersfield Park ground, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Plans for the proposed Petersfield Community and Sports Hub were first put forward six years ago.

They include a single-storey facility with upgraded changing rooms for the football team and social and community spaces, including a bar and kitchen.

The club has a 25-year lease on their ground and the land where the shipping containers are located, with 22 years remaining.

The council’s cabinet is due to approve the terms by which an amended lease of the land could be offered to Saracens FC, and a separate lease could be offered to the Petersfield Partnership charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), which was set up in 2023 to deliver the hub building.

The club hopes to start construction later this month and finish in December.