Swifts to fly high with council help

Lutterworth Town Football Club - nicknamed The Swifts - could be flying high next season - with the council's help.

The club, which plays at Dunley Way in Lutterworth, has already done its bit, winning the Everards Leicestershire Senior Football League last Saturday, with five games to spare and without losing a match.

Having won the Leicestershire league, they hope to step up into the regional United Counties League next season. It would be the club’s highest ever league position in their 62-year history.

And that’s where Harborough District Council comes in.

The club hopes the council, which owns the club’s ground, will lease it to them on a 27-year lease. That would give the club the guaranteed tenancy that can unlock grants from the Football Foundation for essential ground improvements.

On Monday night the council agreed to grant the lease.

The other key council decsion is planning approval for floodlights the club will need for matches in the United Counties League.

That decision has still to be made by the council’s planning committee.

But council leader Blake Pain said on Monday night: “We want to help Lutterworth Town Football Club in their ambition.”

Swifts’ chairman Andy Dixon said: “The club’s progress in the last two years has been nothing short of amazing. There’s a real buzz about the place.

“And with a top manager and a team with an average age of 22, we think we can go further.

“If we can get the lights - we need 32 hours of floodlighting a year - and the £40,000 grant we can move up.

“And we’re still ambitious. We’re not going up to a higher league just to make up the numbers.”