TODAY, the Gazette is launching a campaign to bring Basingstoke’s football club back home to the Camrose after unearthing a historic document which states its former home should remain a football ground until 2053.

Basingstoke Town Football Club was evicted from the Winchester Road site in August last year as landlord Rafi Razzak lodged a planning application to build 89 homes and a care home on the ground.

For years, rumours of a covenant put in place to protect the ground from development were rubbished by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. In 2017, officers from the authority told a public meeting there was ‘no evidence’ of a covenant and said its legal team had not been able to find it.

Well last week, the Gazette did. And in black and white, the historic document clearly stated the grounds must remain as a sporting facility until 2053. 

Also in this week's paper:

  • A man has been arrested after the bomb scare at Festival Place last week.
  • PICTURES: The long-awaited Village Hotel finally opened this week.
  • 'Cruel' anti-homeless pebbles installed at Chineham shopping centre
  • Driver killed by Storm Ciara
  • It could be 10 years until Basingstoke's new hospital is built
  • The number of people using libraries under the threat of closure in Basingstoke has increased over the last five years, new data reveals.
  • Two pages of your letters
  • Two pages of news from your communities
  • Two pages of business news
  • Three pages of entertainment news
  • Five pages of sport news