Youth football club in Corby left without clubhouse for over a year as council fails to sort out subsidence problem

Northants Telegraph

A youth football club in Corby has been forced to live without their clubhouse for over a year due to a lack of intervention from the council.

Transcript

00:00 A few years back, we put out loads of feelers,

00:04 contacted loads of companies to ask them for donations

00:08 to help try and renovate the inside.

00:11 That started and we called it our big build.

00:14 We got through all that as a club and it was up and running.

00:19 It was a real home for the children.

00:23 It was a base for everybody, open to the public,

00:26 anybody could come in.

00:28 And then in September last year, in 2022,

00:31 we noticed some cracks on a rear wall

00:33 in the changing room side of the building.

00:35 So we contacted the council,

00:38 they've obviously done their reports.

00:40 It's came back that it's some subsidence.

00:43 We're not allowed to enter the building.

00:44 The council have now cordoned it off,

00:46 as you can see from the fence to our left.

00:49 And we keep chasing for updates and the council,

00:54 they're probably stuck in limbo as well,

00:56 but somebody needs to take accountability for it now.

00:59 With the children are missing out here.

01:01 There's nearly 200 children at this club now,

01:04 ranging from the age of three to 17.

01:06 And I just feel 14 months is a long time

01:12 for insurance companies to be trying to sort out this issue.

01:16 And to be fair, it isn't an Atlantic issue.

01:19 It's a council issue,

01:21 'cause it's a council building at the end of the day.

01:24 And that's where we're at.

01:25 We could easily be making 200 to 250 pound a week

01:28 and selling teas, coffees, snacks, sweets, cold drinks

01:33 to the children, to the parents.

01:35 We've got an alcohol license.

01:36 We can't sell our alcohol.

01:38 All our stock is still in there.

01:39 It's all out of date.

01:40 So we've lost on that.

01:42 And I'd say we were making

01:43 between 10 and 12,000 pound a year.

01:46 But that was back then, but now the club's grown.

01:47 We've got some more players.

01:49 So that could potentially be more, but we just don't know.

01:52 They haven't got any facilities.

01:53 They've got a grass field.

01:55 You try telling a three-year-old,

01:56 "Yo, you can't go in there.

01:59 I need the toilet."

02:00 We haven't got any toilets.

02:02 We haven't got any anything

02:04 other than some good quality pitchers.

02:07 We'd just be like any other club.

02:10 We wouldn't have a base.

02:14 And it'd just be like playing on a field.

02:16 And this is for the community.

02:19 It's not just for the club,

02:20 because we welcome anyone to come inside.

02:23 We haven't seen reports,

02:24 but the feedback we're getting from the council

02:26 is that it's clay soil underneath in the back rear quarter

02:31 and the trees over on the railway line side.

02:35 I've sucked the moisture out of the ground

02:38 in the really, really hot weather.

02:39 And the building has dropped slightly.

02:43 I think they've done recently a check

02:46 to see if it's got worse.

02:47 And I think it has.

02:48 I think they've came back and said that it has got worse.

02:50 But obviously we aren't privy to them,

02:52 documents that they've got.

02:54 We can just take it from our contact.

02:55 We keep messaging for at least monthly updates.

02:59 And it gets frustrating.

03:02 And it's frustrating for everybody,

03:05 not just people involved in the club,

03:07 but the parents, the children,

03:09 even the local residents who want to use it.

03:12 Because on a Sunday,

03:13 when we've got two, three games down here,

03:15 we're ranging from 10 o'clock in the morning

03:17 right through to four o'clock in the afternoon.

03:19 So it's open for six hours.

03:21 The people can come in, have a drink,

03:22 have a snack, just sit,

03:25 enjoy watching some football,

03:27 and have some refreshments.

03:28 But we can't offer that anymore.

03:30 So we are, in the eyes of the FA or the league

03:35 or the football association,

03:37 we're a two-star accreditation,

03:39 which means that the facilities we offer

03:41 are more than a standard football club.

03:44 It means we're more a community-based club, in effect.

03:49 But losing the income from there affects us

03:52 because we have children who ask to join

03:56 on a daily, weekly, monthly basis.

03:59 Have you got any space in this team?

04:01 Create new teams.

04:03 But the funds aren't there

04:04 because we're losing all that money

04:06 from the clubhouse being closed.

04:07 To buy equipment, to buy kits,

04:09 we rely heavily more on sponsors

04:11 because we're losing that income.

04:13 But there's not a full amount of sponsors out there

04:17 that can afford to help in the current climate.

04:20 So we want to do it ourselves,

04:22 as much as help from sponsors,

04:25 but at the minute we're solely relying on sponsors

04:27 and donations from parents

04:30 to enable us to buy more equipment,

04:32 to invite more children to play football,

04:34 because that's what it's all about at the end of the day,

04:36 is children getting out, having exercise,

04:39 playing football, having fun, and enjoying themselves.

04:42 But we can't offer that fully at this precise moment.

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