MAIDSTONE United FC are finally coming home. Borough councillors cleared the way for a new town centre stadium with a unanimous 12-0 vote on Thursday night.

About 100 Maidstone fans wearing the team’s amber and black colours crammed into the council chamber to hear the authority approve the plan. About 100 more waited outside. A huge roar erupted as the decision was announced.

The club will now finalise the terms of the lease with the Whatman Way site’s owners, the MoD, before hopefully starting work on the ground in the New Year.

Stones chairman Paul Bowden Brown said: “I’m very relieved. My thoughts are with everyone who has ever been involved with the club, both before and after I became chairman.

“I want to thank the planning committee and the members because common sense has prevailed.

“This town needs a football club and I’m overjoyed we have cleared the largest hurdle.”

The council’s planning committee meeting was attended by hundreds of Stones supporters, desperate for some good news after years of frustration.

Planning officers had recommended accepting the plans, provided a number of conditions were met, but Bowden Brown admitted he had been feeling tense before the vote.

Bowden Brown, who has worked for the past 12 years to find United a home in the County Town, told the Kent Messenger: “I was very nervous. I got no more than half an hour’s sleep the previous night.”

The Stones player/manager Lloyd Hume said he was delighted by the news and hoped erformances on the field would now improve. He stressed: “For all the players in the squad, this is a huge incentive for us."

FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK'S KENT MESSENGER MAIDSTONE EDITION

* Mr Bowden Brown spoke to KM-fm Sports Editor Simon Watts about his feelings and plans following the decision...