Thomas explains the next steps should council finalise East Stand deal

Work on the East Stand could restart later this year should West Northants Council ratify their land deal with Northampton Town at the end of the month.

The council will discuss the details of the agreement at a full meeting next Monday, with a decision to be taken to cabinet the following week.

Explaining what would happen next if the deal goes through, chairman Kelvin Thomas said: "We put out a document on Monday that everyone can download and that gives out a lot of information regarding the deal and the support we have received.

"It will be discussed at full council where all questions will be answered and then hopefully the cabinet will approve on February 28 and at that point it then goes into the legal process of agreeing and signing contracts.

"That would probably take between four to six weeks depending on lawyers and then once you have cabinet approval, you start finalising construction details and when you can potentially start construction.

"Some of the conversation will be around whether or not we need to close to the stand and when the best time to build it and when would be reasonable for builders to get back on site.

"There have been some informal discussions and things put in place but we would formalise all of that after approval.

"There is one added complication around the ACV, which is the asset of community value. The Trust hold the ACV and they have the ability to delay matters for up to six months.

"We would be surprised if they did that once it was agreed at cabinet but if they did, we would have to wait that period out and close the transaction at the end of it.

"But we could do some work in the background during that period anyway in terms of getting plans in place and getting ready to go. Hopefully it doesn't come to that but there's a chance that it could and those are the next stages."