A football club say an unexpected fee of £45,000 is a “kick in the teeth” as they plan to revamp their facilities.

Range Rovers FC have been told by Swale council that they will need to cough up the money to build sporting facilities at Seager Road Sports Ground in Sheerness.

The club, established in 1997, have a 110-year lease at the council-owned ground.

They want to put up three new modular buildings which will act as changing rooms and a community meeting space.

The project, which is expected to cost around £450,000, will allow them to boost their 200-strong membership by a third.

Currently, they have 16 teams including men's, women’s and youth teams but do not have the correct changing rooms to meet league rules to start girls’ sides.

Club chairman, Eddy McEntire, says the plans have continually hit obstacles since talks started in November last year.

Setbacks include a £75,000 grant expiring due to the club needing a £45,000 biodiversity report – although the club should be able to reapply and be granted this again.

One of the latest costs is an estimated £45,000 which is needed to pay for a council bond.

This can be paid over the next decade but will take planning expenditure to around £105,000, the club say – with £15,000 spent preparing documents already.

The council has asked the club for the deposit so it would not incur the costs of removing the new facilities after a recent, separate incident which saw it face the possibility of using taxpayers’ money to remove dilapidated temporary units.

It did not incur a cost but it fears a similar situation could happen again.

KentOnline asked the authority for details of the incident but it said it would not provide these as “it is not relevant or appropriate to name them” because they are not involved with the current application.

A council spokesman said: “The proposed bond is intended to protect our financial position from potential future liability that the proposal might present and which we have previous experience of.”

The club would be reimbursed the money it had put in the bond if it were to remove its unit itself.

But Mr McEntire, who has been chairman for 20 years, says the club are “going nowhere” and should not be “tarnished with the same brush” as other groups.

The 56-year-old, who works at EKC School in Sheerness as a community liaison manager, said: “While we can the pay the holding fee over 10 years, even a £4,500 a year is too much to ask.

“We have been putting money away since we moved on the site in 2013 as we had to replace the old changing rooms as part of our lease.

“But that has all come from years of fundraising which we are still doing to raise the money to pay for our new facilities.

“We had costed everything but the holding bond fee was a kick in the teeth and while it won't stop our plan it will make it a lot harder.

“We have already told parents we will have to put up the children's subs a couple of pounds a week to pay for everything and tell them how it will benefit them in the long run.

“But what we thought would be a simple process has just been met with obstacles during the planning stages.”

RRFC also suffered another blow following the announcement last week that Wiggles Playgroup is to shut.

The Sheerness-based nursery had planned to move into the community space as part of Range Rovers’ new complex after being told it needed to find a new home.

However, on Monday, November 11, it announced it had been forced to pull out of the move as it could no longer afford the £170,000 needed to build it.

The football club still hope another playgroup will take on the space.

Also included in its proposals is a tea bar, that will serve hot drinks and snacks on match days, as well as 82 parking spaces and 20 off-street spaces for residents.

It has already knocked down the old changing room building, which was pigeon-infested and full of asbestos, as per its lease agreement with the council.

The plans, which were validated by Swale council on November 1, are expected to be decided on by December 27.