Richard Lane clears first hurdle to buy Aggborough off WFDC

Kidderminster Harriers’ owner Richard Lane’s bid to buy Aggborough Stadium has moved a step closer after the move was backed by councillors, although the club came in for sharp criticism for a lack of communication.

Lane will buy the lease off the council, which was understood to be running out in the coming decades.

All but one of Wyre Forest District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee voted in favour of the council selling Aggborough Stadium, the Stadium Close Car Park, and the Sports and Social Club at the ground. It will be voted on again by Wyre Forest’s top table of councillors next week, on February 11th at 6pm. However the meeting heard that as part of Lane’s plans for the ground the Harriers Arms could be flattened to create a new two-storey reception area with lifts to make the hospitality area in the Harriers accessible.

Liberal councillor Fran Oborski MBE (Offmore and Comberton) told the meeting that Richard Lane had told her previously about his ambitions for the ground. Cllr Oborski is a Harriers season ticket holder, but unable to attend games after a leg amputation in 2024. She told the meeting at Wyre Forest House:

“The first I knew about what they might want to do at Aggborough was quite a long time ago. It was when they told me they couldn’t take me up to hospitality anymore because health and safety said that three people were not allowed to carry me in a wheelchair, and the chairman had a meeting with me to explain what they intended to do up there. Which is basically, as I understand it, to demolish the single-storey Harriers Arms and create a new two-storey entrance into the ground with a new reception area and new lifts that will take anyone straight up to the Aggborough Suite. He said they hope to do it within two years. I hope I’ll have a leg before then … but I knew that some time ago before it became public, just because of them having to pacify a very angry Fran who had been told she couldn’t be carried up into hospitality any more.”

The lack of accessibility has previously been an issue for Harriers owners. Mark Serrell famously undertook a sponsored slim to raise money to install a lift to the Suite, however the work never began.

The meeting’s agenda, published by Wyre Forest District Council, said the Harriers wanted to create a “landmark” entrance gateway. It said the plans included “a modern, welcoming hub that embodies the concept of ‘from fibres to football: weaving Harriers into the community’” It also said the plans would include an “improved arrival space and entrance gateway … [which] will serve as a welcoming, functional space for fans and visitors, ensuring seamless access and creating a memorable experience”. New hospitality spaces, corporate boxes and “multi-functional event areas” are part of the club’s goals. It promised “state of the art amenities” for matchgoers.

No formal plans have been published. Nobody from the Harriers spoke at the meeting and it was unclear if anyone from the club attended in person.

The only councillor to abstain was the Independent Helen Dyke, who represents Aggborough. She strongly criticised the club for a lack of information provided to councillors and residents. Cllr Dyke said she was concerned for residents but said she had no details to reassure anybody with questions:

“I can’t inform the residents, if I’m not informed, and the first thing I’ve heard about this is the press release and this agenda. Now what I would have liked to have done, as a responsible ward councillor, would have been to have spoken to my residents, explained to them what was going to happen, and the process, but I wasn’t given that facility to do so, which I think is pretty bad.”

Cllr Dyke also mentioned that the club and some of its neighbours:

“do not have a very good relationship and a previous liaison group had fallen by the wayside. Knowing what might happen isn’t the same as knowing what will happen. We take our role seriously as ward councillors and I just feel that we’ve been let down with the way the comms have progressed and the way ward councillors haven’t been kept involved.”