TROWBRIDGE Town FC is planning a big future this week after the town council backed it by buying the freehold of its ground, meaning the club can make longed-for improvements which will allow it to move up to higher leagues.

Trowbridge Town Council has bought the freehold for Woodmarsh, the field between Trowbridge and North Bradley where The Bees play their home matches, from Bath-based Doric Developments, for a sum understood to be in the region of £350,000.

This means the club, which won the Wiltshire Senior League last season, can now make improvements to the substandard ground and facilities and apply for grants from the Football Association (FA), as they will be able to secure a long-term lease through the council.

Club chairman Ralph McCaldon said: “This is by far the best news the club has had since re-forming in 1998.

“Since I became chairman in 2010 I have been working very hard towards this. We have always been on a rolling lease which meant we have had no security but now we can finally progress as a club.

“It’s going to involve a lot of work and money but we have set ourselves a target of having a proper football stadium in place and to be playing in the Toolstation Western League by the 2020/2021 season.

“The future finally looks bright for Trowbridge Town FC and I am delighted.”

The club first plans to move the ground’s entrance, improve its car park, upgrade the hospitality and add floodlights, bringing it up to the standard required for the Toolstation Western League in the process.

In addition to improving the ground, plans are in place to secure additional land in the area to provide further grass pitches and the town council also hopes to invest in an all-weather facility.

Trowbridge councillor and avid Trowbridge Town FC fan, Peter Fuller, said: “This is really great news.

“As well as safeguarding the club, it means that bit of land between Trowbridge and North Bradley will remain a green space instead of becoming a housing development.

​"For years the club has struggled to hold onto its best players as they haven’t been able to progress but hopefully now there is a vision for the club. They will be more inclined to stay.”

The club needs to raise around £70,000-£90,000 for its share of what it hopes will be £300,000 project to revamp Woodmarsh, and is already planing fundraising events.

Some of the money will come in from sponsorship boards which can now be put up around the ground to help boost funds, which wasn’t allowed before the transfer, and the club hopes local businesses will be keen to support them.

Town clerk Lance Allan said this is the first stage of a project to secure the future of outdoor sports provision in the Trowbridge area, with around £3 million to be invested in sporting facilities over the next five years.