Call to use £500k left in Cannock Chase bank account

Around £500,000 sitting untouched in a Cannock Chase Council bank account should be spent on new leisure facilities to benefit thousand of people across the district, the leader of the council said today.

A feud has been going on for years between the authority and supermarket Asda about who should keep the cash.

Asda paid the money to the council as part of the conditions attached to building its store in Avon Road in 2005.

It was intended for an artifical pitch at the old Cannock Stadium

But the stadium was demolished in 2009 and Asda is trying to claim the cash back as the authority had not spent the money within the agreed time limit.

Both sides have said they hope to see an end to the dispute soon, with council leader Councillor George Adamson saying he wants to see a conclusion to the saga by the end of year.

Councillor Adamson wants to see the cash spent on a number of leisure facilities on the site of the former Cannock Stadium.

Today, he said: "Hopefully it will all be sorted soon and then we can look at using the money from Asda for it.

"We have got a cabinet conference this Wednesday and will be meeting with officers to talk more about the details.

"There is various funding options we can look at, but it is a project that's not going to happen overnight."

The land at the stadium has been designated as public open space after a motion tabled by the council leader.

Councillor Adamson said junior and senior football teams, as well as athletics clubs, were keen to move there.

Changing rooms will be installed and football pitches improved at the Pye Green Road site once funding is secured.