The price tag for turning the local football club into a community space for all has just gone up.

Frome Town Council was asked for an additional £9,000 to call in lawyers to get rid of any 'muddle' over ownership.

Frome Town football club has managed to score a couple of big grants including one from the Premier League, but can only get its hands on that money if the ownership of the ground and club house is made absolutely clear.

A repair and improve project is already costing £50,000 for an architect and a surveyor.

Frome Town Council is not responsible for this project - as this point -but it needs to be clarified.

Frome Town Vouncil meeting (February 21) was told that they are getting £150,000 from the Premier League and £364,000 from the community, which will cover renovations of the club house and new changing rooms, although Frome Nub News has not been able to independently verify either of these figures.

But in order to access money, the council was told, will require legally binding clarification on who owns the freehold up at Badgers Hill.

This deed will allow the project to access the money, but will incur further costs to the town, in this case a request put in for £9,000 for fees in this region for legal costs.

Another councillor said: " I sense the lenders risk is now being carried by the Town Council, is this right?"

" Are we not just getting deeper and deeper into the mire," asked another.

Who benefits from a flourishing football club?

The football club is now a Community Benefit Society, with residents invited to buy shares in it to help it survive.

But that left councillors asking why then is the council is still being asked for money.

Cllr Lisa Merryweather, who sits on the board of the CBS explained that the £50,000 already awarded to the project has been taking up for professional fees, including an architect, so it won't cover legal fees to clarify the leasehold/freehold questions about the ground and club house.

The club changed status in August last year HERE as councillors were warned that without help there was a real possibility that Frome could be without a town football squad

Explanation : Badgers Hill stadium and grounds is now owned by the community following the purchase of the site from Frome Town Holdings Ltd by Frome Town Council. 

When Frome Town Council exercised the option to buy the grounds, they issued a 25-year lease to Frome Town Community Benefit Society (FTCBS). The FTCBS will run and manage the grounds, including issuing a lease to Frome Town AFC to secure Badgers Hill as the continuing home of Frome Town Robins. Whilst seemingly complicated, this means that this fantastic community resource will be retained for the community of Frome.

The club house reportedly has structural problems so it will also need an engineer with Cllr Mereditth adding: " It is not a safe place and needs essential improvements."

The former mayor said she found the details baffling and muddling, and she was not alone in the room in asking why this extra money was needed in the first place.

The decision to award the Community Benefit Society the additional £9,000 was passed by a majority of councillors but with one councillor heard to say grumbling, " They like spending our money don't they."