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The proposed new stadium would be located at the Leisure Park, in Worting Road, and feature a clubhouse, 3G pitches, and even classrooms for academy players to study in, emphasising the community aspect of the club.
In a statement released on its official website, the club said it has held “initial talks with the new leaders at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council over recent weeks”.
In the talks, the club presented council leaders with its progress and a business plan that utilises funds from the loss of the Camrose ground along with grants and other funding sources.
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‘Stoke chairman Jack Miller told the Gazette: “We’ve made our aspirations known about having a like-for-like community stadium in the town that’s our own, we’ve made that abundantly clear.
“We’ve worked with our club partners and since February we’ve been putting together a fully-costed business plan for a stadium at Basingstoke Leisure Park.
“We want it at the Leisure Park, on a football stadium-sized piece of land.”
He said the plan “ticks so many boxes”, adding: “It’s well documented that there is a shortage of football pitches and artificial pitches in the town.”
Basingstoke Town has not had its own home ground since the loss of the Camrose in 2019. The team currently uses Winklebury Football Complex but the ground does not meet league standards, preventing the club from progressing.
The club considers the Leisure Park to be the ideal location for a football stadium and is keen to make it their new home.
It hopes it can be included as part of ongoing plans to redevelop the Leisure Park.
The club’s plans include a “purpose-built community stadium” with classrooms for the club’s full-time education football academy, a clubhouse and a 3G pitch for teams to progress along with community facilities.
“The academy is a massive part of the club,” Mr Miller continued.
“At the Camrose, we used the clubhouse as a classroom, whereas at Winklebury, we hire the John Ward suite for our academy who are there full time.
“Where the academy is growing, a classroom is certainly something we want to make sure we have, and it can become a facility for the community to use when it is not in use by the academy.”
A petition has launched this week backing the club in its bid to find a permanent home.
David Lawrence, Labour’s parliamentary candidate who launched the petition, said: “I am calling on local leaders to work together to ensure that Basingstoke has a permanent home of its own: this should be a proper stadium that meets league standards.”
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Mr Miller said money used for the current site in Winklebury will improve it to a ‘grade three’ level, but this prevents the club from progressing further.
He added: “We just need all the parties to come forward and be like ‘right, we want to do this.'”
The football club says it welcomes anyone who is willing to work with them to progress the plans, and any potential investors to get in touch by emailing: club@btfc.co.uk
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s co-leader Cllr Gavin James said: “We were really pleased to meet with the club who presented their business plan. It was good to see the progress they are making and we look forward to further discussions with them.
“The cabinet remains committed to exploring options to secure the long-term future of the club. We said we would listen and we are.
“At this time the options for the future of the Leisure Park are being carefully considered.”
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