PLANS to build a new stadium for Maidstone United at Whatman Way have been rescued by councillors.

Negotiations were well advanced between MoD lawyers and Maidstone United’s solicitors for the club to lease the land in Whatman Way for 98 years at £20 a week.

Suddenly, in January, club chairman, Paul Bowden Brown, was told the site’s owners wanted £98,000 upfront instead of the rent.

Overnight, it turned fans’ dreams of the club returning to the borough for the first time in 17 years into a nightmare.

Mr Bowden Brown was frustrated in his attempts to raise the money on the open market.

But on Wednesday senior councillors agreed to step in, and lend council taxpayers’ cash to the club.

It finally clears the way for Mr Bowden-Brown to sign the ground lease.

* FOR THE FULL STORY SEE FRIDAY'S KENT MESSENGER.