GRAYS Athletic Football Club may be on the brink of being gifted a football stadium to call its own after the proposed buyers of the former Ship Lane stadium vacated by the now defunct Thurrock FC have radically changed their plans to develop the site.

For a decade Grays have been without a ground to call their own after the owners of their former ground in the heart of the town sold it to developers. A £700,000 legacy left to the club by the owners to help the club secure a new ground has never been accounted for as the club moved through different owners.

It is now a club wholly-owned by its supporters and has been campaigned for a return to Grays, asking for the council to help it find a new home.

Group 1 Automotive had offered to buy the site at Ship Lane from its former owners for around £3 million and were proposing to convert its grass pitch into an artificial one and gift it to the local community to replace the lost pitches that have been used by youth football teams to the west of the main stadium.

They were created with a substantial grant from the Football Foundation.

Essex FA, the Thurrock Sunday League, East Thurrock United (who are also seeking a new ground) and Grays Athletic have all been associated with taking on responsibility for the new community stadium over the past couple of years - but now Group 1, which wants to build a car preparation site on the rest of the site, has changed its offer.

It wants to gift the stadium, with a grass pitch, to Grays Athletic - and then provide half a million pounds to develop community pitches at Thurrock Council's Belhus Park site.

Amendments to the original planning application, submitted in 2019, say: "Following ongoing liaison and negotiation with Sport England, it is now proposed to amend the proposals for the Thurrock Football Club stadium site to retain it in football stadium use but not to provide an all-weather 3G pitch.

"Instead, it is proposed that the stadium be utilised for continued football use by gifting it to another local football club, namely Grays Athletic.

"Rather than the provision of all-weather 3G pitch at the Thurrock Football Club stadium, it has been agreed with Sport England, following discussions with Thurrock Council (Recreation and Leisure Services) and the Football Foundation, that an appropriate mitigation for the development of the existing training pitches is a financial contribution of £500,000 for new or enhanced football pitch provision at Thurrock Council's Belhus Park playing fields in Aveley along with the gifting of the stadium to a community sports partner."

Residents in Aveley have been staunchly against Group 1's plans, with a significant number of objections to the planning application posted, largely due to concerns that the scheme will mean more HGVs passing through the village.

However, Thurrock Council's major applications manager has now written to residents and local community organisations, detailing the changes to the application.

Sport England appears to hold a slightly different position to that suggested by the potential developers and in its latest communication, says it still has a 'holding objection' to the scheme because it is not convinced the mitigation for the loss of youth pitches at the site is sufficient. And they want to know under what terms Grays Athletic will be gifted the Ship Lane stadium.

No report has yet been prepared for the council's planning committee, but it would seem likely that the council may now be favouring the new scheme.

Julian Sutton, a planning advisor to to Group I says: "In summary, it remains that we consider that the proposed application is of considerable benefit to Thurrock Borough Council. Namely, the proposed application provides:

• The gifting of Thurrock Football Club to a third party to ensure its use for community football in perpetuity;
• A financial contribution of £500,000 made to Thurrock Council for improvement of existing football pitch provision at Belhus Park, Aveley;
• New access to include a HGV turnaround which will provide road traffic benefits to help reduce/prevent HGVs travelling through Aveley village;
• The introduction of a new international company to Thurrock Borough Council;
• The creation of up to 30 new jobs; and
• New landscaping in order improve views across to the Stadium from the Mar Dyke footpath.