County council proves itself prop-ular with Keswick rugby club deal - 8 December

“Keswick rugby club has just one ambition – to have the best possible rugby facilities at Davidson Park. Our commitment, tenacity and determination as a club has been proved in recent days, when our club house was up and running again and open for business just seven days after the floods hit and left the club house five feet under water. I’d like to thank the county council in helping us take this important step forward.”

David Etherden, special projects co-ordinator of Keswick RFU, said:
“I’ve been very impressed with how committed this club is and how much it brings to the local community in Keswick and surrounding areas. The club has a firm financial footing, is clearly prospering and has big plans to improve the quality of the pitches. It’s right that they should press ahead with the plans safe in the knowledge that they own the freehold to their pitches.”

Cllr Stewart Young, Cumbria County Council’s Cabinet member responsible for finance and resources, said:
The club has assured the county council that it has no intentions of selling the land either now or in the future. Keswick RFU Club has been in existence since 1879 and has gone from strength to strength, recently gaining national recognition for its work with youth players. The club has agreed to establish a charitable trust (with a County Council trustee) that will hold all its property assets and so protect the playing fields and their use.

The sale of the freehold still contains the conditions that the pitches can be used by Keswick School and still gives the county council the right to buy a strip of land for future road widening if necessary. The deal also protects the interests of Cumbrian taxpayers by ensuring that, if Keswick RFU did decide to sell the land for development at any future date, the county council would have the first option to buy the land back.
At a meeting of the County Council’s Cabinet in Carlisle today, councillors agreed to the request to sell the freehold for its market value of £21,500 – meaning the club can press on with its exciting plans to improve the pitches and facilities.

The club previously had a 99-year leasehold on the 3.47 hectares (8.57 acres) of land, which was due to expire in 2091, but asked the county council if it could buy the land to give it more long-term certainty and security. Cumbria County Council has agreed to a request from Keswick RFU Club to sell it the freehold to the club’s playing fields at Davidson Park so that the club can invest nearly a quarter of a million pounds in new facilities.