The football stadium at Winklebury that might become Basingstoke Town F.C.'s ground is very nice, but let's be honest, it's tiny. Go to any village in Europe and you'll very probably find a bigger one. If the town's football team end up playing there it will be pathetic. You might as well put a sign up saying, "Welcome to Basingstoke the most unambitious place on the planet!"

Let me try to explain; we are about to leave the EU, this should give us the ability to run this country in a new way, a way that brings foreign investment surging into the country, expanding our economy, driving down unemployment, and all at a time when we will need all of that more than ever before. And we want some of that flowing Basingstoke's way, and one factor that would express the town's faith in its self would be a big, new stadium. A stadium that says out loud, "We are going places, we believe in our selves, and we aren't afraid to say so!"

The council will say it can't afford to help, but this is one time in history when money should be no object. Have faith, we will beat the coronavirus, and the country will recover economically, so build a stadium worth having and put Basingstoke firmly on the map. Try to imagine Basingstoke Town F.C. in the Premiership, and why not, Portsmouth got there, why shouldn't we? Alright that is a little overambitious, but you get the point, think big!

Brian Simmonds, Belmont Heights, Hatch Warren