Football club safety licence revoked 'to cut costs'

A football stadium's safety certificate has been revoked after the club decided to reduce the number of covered seats at the ground in a bid to cut costs.

North Yorkshire Council cancelled Whitby Town Football Club's general safety certificate as part of an application by the club.

The Towbar Express Stadium at the Turnbull Ground became an officially regulated stand in 2006, but the club said it wanted to deregulate by reducing the number of seats to fewer than 500.

A council meeting was told the deregulation "could potentially bring a cost saving of £8,000 a month" to the club.

A sports ground that has a covered stand with a seating or standing capacity of 500 or more is regulated - meaning it needs a general safety certificate, which brings associated costs.

Whitby Town Football Club has removed nine seats from its stand, bringing down the capacity to 498.

A council meeting heard the club faced high costs due to the need to submit mandatory reports, numbers of security staff and paramedic attendance.

Scott Booth, the club's chief executive, said: "Taking the seats out of the stand means that I can flex the amount of staffing.

"It's not that I want to reduce security, I want to ensure the sustainability of the football club and that we become financially buoyant, alternatively the club won't be there."

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Booth told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the decision meant the club would be able to save money and reinvest.

He said that the stadium, which has an overall capacity of fewer than 1,400, was "overmanned for the amount of people that are actually attending".

He said: "Going forward I think we need to be looking at how we can reinvest all that money because we will be making a considerable saving per annum.

"Over the past 20 years, just to have the report written for every home game within the division has cost £72,000 as the charges are done on an FA banding."

He added: "If we look at that and how much security and paramedic costs have been, we are probably talking about more than £250,000 that's been spent over 20 years for a certificate that's not necessarily been required."

The Sports Ground Safety Authority said the club's duties would "not be lessened under other legislation and guidance" including the Safety at Sports Ground Act 1975.

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