Billericay Town FC is pleading with Basildon Council to reconsider plans which could send its rent bill soaring by as much as 500 per cent a year.

The cash-strapped council, which owns the Blunts Wall Road site on which the club's New Lodge ground stands, is considering doing away with the 75 per cent rent discount which the club has enjoyed since 1977.

Without the cut, which would be reduced year by year over a seven-year period, the club could see its annual rent climb from the current figure of £1,812 to £11,000, forcing it to divert vital resources from stadium refurbishment and other areas, including the team itself.

The council has also ordered the club to come up with a consent fee of £2,500 a year in return for its approval for the ground-sharing scheme with Chelmsford City.

Club chairman Rod Moore said: "If the rent goes up, we would have to find the money. But any additional money we have to find for things like rent and rates will be taken away from the club's development, from money put aside to improve the stadium and other projects.

"I would rather the council recognised that we are the senior football club in the district and we do have the potential in Billericay and the surrounding area to go further.

"We should be working together to develop plans for the future and see how we could improve the stadium, not just for the footballing side but the whole community."

Explaining the rent proposals, a Basildon Council spokesman explained: "A review of Billericay Town's rent is now due.

"In light of the council's current financial situation, the opportunity has also been taken to look at the fact that the club has, for many years now, been receiving a sizable discount on the rent that they should be paying."

The club is hoping to get the council to support its plan for a floodlit training pitch behind the ground which would be open to the public and give the team, which currently travels to Brentwood to use indoor training facilities, somewhere local to train in bad weather.

Club representatives are due to meet council officials in the next few weeks to discuss the rent proposals.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.