LOUGHTON: Town council signs recreation ground lease

4:19pm Friday 11th January 2008

LOUGHTON Town Council has formally taken control of Roding Valley recreation ground ending a saga stretching back over a decade.

A contract granting the council a 125-year lease was finally signed bringing to an end a string of negotiations with Epping Forest District Council dating back to the town council's creation in 1996.

The agreement came as the council was due to debate a motion drafted by councillor Chris Pond threatening to withdraw all maintenance payments for the ground in protest at the district council's string of delays over the lease.

The contract was formally signed just moments before the meeting and the motion was dropped.

Mayor Suzanne Harper, who signed the contract with deputy mayor Peter Sheen, said: "We're really delighted it's been done. It's been a long hard trek. It's been going on virtually since we came into being. We wondered at times if it would ever be done. We're pleased it's over."

Mr Pond said he thought the threat to withdraw payments had prompted the district council into action.

He said: "Our strong action did, I think, at last effect changes within the district council management. It's been a long saga - 11 years - but I was truly delighted to see the words we drafted years ago in published form."

Town clerk Louise Fuller, who has worked on obtaining the lease for years, said: "It's been a very long process and a complicated one, but we're really pleased it's been sorted at last. The lease does gives us a proper legal footing. Before when we had no legal basis it held us back from the possibility of progressing with things we might otherwise have done. It gives us greater freedom."