At the last Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council full meeting, in response to questions from concerned members of the public and club officials, I requested that due to the clear public interest these issues should be investigated by the council's scrutiny committee.

Despite this being agreed, I have now been informed the council does not have enough time to produce a report before the next scrutiny meeting on March 19 and due to the forthcoming elections, a meeting could not be held in April, or May.

It was also suggested that the site owners would not have been able to attend, not that anyone appears to have asked them. So for several months neither councillors, or members of the public, will have any opportunity to examine how Basingstoke's only major football club has found itself homeless and forced to play in Winchester, or why the council who own nearly a third of the site, worked with the owner of the rest of the site, to build a new ground on the Old Common, a plan that had no chance of success.

It would also be helpful to know why Basron Developments Ltd, registered an interest in the club as far back as 2006 and when they first approached BDBC with their plans.

It is also unclear why the council is still working with Basron to redevelop the entire site when there is no credible alternative site for a second stadium as required by Sport England, who will continue to oppose redevelopment without an alternative, as Winklebury will only ever be a short term solution.

We also need to understand what prompted the successors of Viscount Camrose to sell the freehold of the site in 2016 for £2.4 million, a huge sum for a football ground with 33 years of a lease to run, and whether the infamous covenant placed on the site to protect it from development until at least 2053 is still relevant as appears to be the case.

At the same meeting Cllr Mark Taylor spoke of the way Bury FC had registered their site as an 'Asset of Community Value'.

Why was this option which could give some protection to the site, not suggested to the club by BDBC? I am sure there are many more questions but don't expect answers any time soon...

Cllr Ian Tilbury, Leader of Basingstoke and Deane Independents