HEREFORDSHIRE Council has said it will consider transferring two leases relating to development at Hereford United’s Edgar Street ground to the club’s new owner Tommy Agombar.

Mr Agombar has asked the council to transfer leases allowing development at the Merton Meadow and Blackfriars ends to a company in his ownership.

This morning, the council confirmed it was assessing that request  and would require “proof of financial standing” before any assignment was made.

But the council is still willing to meet representatives of supporter groups over alternative plans  the club’s future.

One such meeting is already in the offing with the contact instigated this morning.

But supporter’s groups will be subject to same credibility tests as apply to the club’s current situation.

Other options come into play if the club folds.

The council has confirmed that nothing in the development leases relating to the ground changes a requirement for football to be played there.

That requirement for football remains in the original lease on the ground.
The new leases refer to redevelopment of the Meadow End and Blackfriars End and stipulate that any proceeds be re-invested in the ground and its facilities.

The council has also confirmed the current application of  an historic covenant on the ground stating that football should be there amongst other sporting uses.

At present, there is nothing in the club’s current circumstances that would change or affect the terms of the three leases  or allow them to be changed, the council said.

The renegotiated leases on the ground continue to be held by the club.  If the club folds the leases would revert back to the council.

On Friday, the Hereford Times revealed that senior council officers had meet with Mr Agombar.

Then, the council said  meetings between those officers and Tommy Agombar were “standard introductions” with no outline of future plans for the club.

At the time, the council said it had yet to receive “formal notification” of the club’s new ownership arrangements and could not take part in negotiations without it.

Mr Agombar, the council confirmed, was introduced to those senior officers  he could expect to “engage with” in future.

The council and the club are closely entwined and most recently worked together to negotiate new leases on the ground.

Assigning the Edgar Street leases – one for 75 years on the ground and terracing to the west, the other for 33 years for the stand and parking area to the east and both dating from 1982 - was one of the last big deals done by the former Hereford City Council.

During the late 1990s, with United facing severe financial problems, the leases were reassigned to property developers in return for a £1m capital injection into the club.  

The money was made available through two companies, the BS (Bristol Stadium) Group and Chelverton.

BS and Chelverton took equal ownership of a special purpose company called Formsole Ltd which made the investment and held the leases – as the tenant under both – with the club holding sub-leases.  

By August 2001, BS had sold its “loan” to Chelverton which ran into trouble little over a year later when control of the leases passed to Carillion Richardson.

United still owed £1m plus interest to Formsole which stayed solvent when Chelverton went into liquidation.  

It was about this time there was talk of United leaving Edgar Street allowing Formsole to sell the site.

This talk came to nothing and by 2003 it was clear the club was staying at Edgar Street.  

The reassignment of the leases was supported by Herefordshire Council when it took control of the former city council’s affairs.

Getting the leases back was pitched as a political priority when the news broke in April 2010 that then United chairman Graham Turner and vice chairman Joan Fennessy were ready to sell their majority shareholding in the club.

The club began negotiations with Carillion Richardson for the return of the leases almost as soon as the Keyte-Russon takeover was completed in June that year.

That deal was done by December with the club paying £452,000 to secure the return of the leases and settle a £1,069,500 debt to Richardsons Developments, clearing the way for a new single lease and the development opportunities that could bring.

The deal was intended to offer the club security for the next 30 years and ensure future re-entry to the Football League - which requires a 25-year secured tenancy.

It also opened up opportunities for grant funding for any future development - £400,000 in the Conference and £750,000 in the Football League.

The council was ready to allow an extension to the new stadium lease of 250 years once development at either end was underway, with proceeds from the sale of development areas held in a joint escrow account.

That money was intended for the construction of two new stands - one at each end of the ground - and modernisation work on the existing stadium.