I am absolutely delighted to report that our planning appeal (to the Planning Inspectorate against the refusal by North Somerset Council to allow our planning application to erect dressing rooms and kiosk adjacent to our main pitch) has been allowed by the Planning Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State.

Yes, it's been a lengthy and frustrating path to success, but justice has at last been done! Many of you will recall that the Club first submitted a planning application for the development in September 2004 and this was refused by North Somerset Council in December that year. We then revised our proposals and submitted another planning application in February 2005. Despite recommendations for approval of the application by both the Nailsea Town Council and North Somerset Council planners, this too was refused in April 2005, after being referred to Councillors for decision. We felt very strongly that this decision was unfair and therefore appealed against the refusal to the Planning Inspectorate (an independent Government body) in October 2005.

This is wonderful news for the Club and will bring tangible focus to our development plan and progression on the field. Not only will the dressing rooms massively improve the match day experience of our players and enable us to meet Western League standards, it will also greatly alleviate the over subscribed and cramped facilities in the existing Grove Sports Centre dressing rooms - so all players at the Club will benefit from the development.

So what happens next I hear you ask? We must firstly submit plans to North Somerset Council for associated drainage works and in accordance with the lease we hold, also gain the permission of the Nailsea Town Council to start the work (since they are the land owners who we have our lease agreement with). Costs and funding also need to be scoped, so I hope you will all understand there is still a lot of work to do. However, the appeal decision is by far and away the most important step and now the appeal has been allowed, the Club will be working extremely hard to make all of this happen as soon as humanly possible.

What can you do? You can carry on avidly supporting Club fund raising events in the excellent way you have done so over the past 18 months and if help with work on the project is needed, give your time and skills willingly. We will all need to work together to realise our aims and I know I can rely on you all to do this.

Finally, my thanks to Terry Prater, our Architect, who gave his time for nothing and whose expertise was invaluable. Also thanks to my Club Committee colleagues for helping me put together the appeal and for being supportive and positive when the applications were originally refused - I always felt we submitted a first class case and this is something as a voluntary organisation we can be very proud of.

Spence