We have nowhere to go, says City's chief

CAMBRIDGE CITY fans expecting a swift move to a new ground are in for a disappointment - the club cannot find anywhere to go.

City's chief executive Arthur Eastham expects a deal to seal the club's departure from Milton Road to be done soon, but the whole process is proving lengthy Eastham said: "We are finalising a deal with the lawyers at the moment and with a developer that should be done this next week. It is literally down to dotting i's and crossing t's.

"Once we have got that, I have this impression from the fans that (they think) everything is going to be sorted. We are between a rock and a hard place. There's nowhere to take the club. It's quite a predicament.

"There's nowhere for us to go," he said, re-emphasising their dilemma.

"When we do the deal with the developer we are going to be here for three or four seasons while we sort out the site and work on the plans to get planning permission for suitable housing to get maximum value for the site."

Dr Martens Premier Division side City may have to wait for green-belt land to become available, a possible location being Northstowe, the new town planned for between Oakington and Longstanton.

Cambourne has been explored and deemed unsuitable by a building consortium. "We got a letter a couple of weeks ago saying that it's not suitable for them.

"The trouble is that we need to rejig what they wanted to do down there to be able to fit the ground in."

The parties examined a site near the A14 and Arbury Camps and it, too, was ruled out. "We talked about that with the developers. They felt they didn't want to put it there."

Northstowe is viable - but not for a long time - because the new town will need leisure/community facilities.

"There's some land that will become available in Northstowe," said Eastham.

"There's a possibility we can build a stadium there."

This option seems to enthuse Eastham more than any other.

The timescale? "It's of the five or six years mark."