MARGATE Football Club's announcement that they will reinstate Hartsdown Park to Conference South standard by the start of the 2005/06 season is being given a guarded welcome by Thanet council.

The council was informed by letter of the plan between the club and their partners last Tuesday.

The council also said the letter contained a last minute proposal to fund the stadium investment, which would allow the club to return to Hartsdown Park, but details of how the funding will be obtained remain unclear.

Council leader Cllr Sandy Ezekiel, said: "The council has always said that it wanted to see football returning home to Margate where it belongs.

“The club could have easily been playing at Hartsdown Park over the last couple of seasons and it's a great shame that the ground was ripped up in the first place, making the club's future uncertain.

"However, let's be clear. We do not want to see any strings being attached to this. The club has told its fans that they will be returning to Margate from next season and we do not want to see them being disappointed.

“The council has not been made aware of the details of the proposals to reinstate the pitch and stadium. Our stance remains the same. We want to see football being played back in Margate, but we need to know that any scheme is financially viable and deliverable first."

Cllr Ezekiel told a public meeting last month that the club needed both building control consent and landlord consent when the bulldozers were sent in the stadium and dug up the pitch, demolished terracing and knocked down stands.

He is insistent that the club did not have landlord consent and that it is required to reinstate the pitch to a playable level.

The club’s development project team envisage a £10 million development including leisure use as an income stream to fund part of the scheme.

Cllr Ezekiel has stated that it is likely there will be local opposition to the overall development plans and that it is probable the scheme will be called in for discussion by the Government Office for the South East.

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