WORK to improve Winklebury Football Complex will begin next month, Basingstoke Town officials have confirmed. 

Basingstoke Town Community FC posted on its website on Friday, August 18, that stadium improvements will begin on Monday, September 4. 

The post continued: "The upgrade works will ensure Winklebury Football Complex is an FA-approved Tier 3 facility and the stadium upgrades are expected to be completed by January 2024.

"It is not expected that pitch hire or facility usage will be impacted during this period."

The work to build Basingstoke Town's community clubhouse will begin in September with an expected completion date of early March 2024.

Earlier this month Winklebury Football Complex received a stamp of approval from league inspectors, officially securing its Grade 4 stadium compliance and confirming the football club's place in the league ahead of the new season.

The approval confirmed that their first team can play their upcoming matches at the revamped complex.

The football club had initially sought a dispensation to carry out the necessary upgrades over the off-season, a request that was approved.

Recent efforts to meet the Grade 4 standards culminated in the installation of a temporary metal scaffold covering the tunnel area and additional seating in the Peter Raynbird Main Stand.

In 2019 the club was kicked out of its ground, the Camrose, by its former owner Rafi Razzak and his company Basron, and it started playing at the football complex in October 2020, having been forced to play at Winchester City's City Ground for a number of months.

Last year, permission was granted for 85 dwellings and a 70-bedroom care home on the Camrose site after a government inspector approved Mr Razzak’s appeals.