​The council’s decision notice, dated October 27, said the club had has requested a longer lease than its current five-year model “to assist with grant funding submissions for improvements at the ground”, in particular from the Football Foundation. “The length of the new lease confirms Herefordshire Council’s commitment to retaining football in the city and enables long term investment of the remainder of the facilities,” it added. RELATED NEWS: The new lease begins in August 2030. It will not include the area of the now-demolished Blackfriars stand at the south end of the ground – but will include extra land to the north. Welcoming the formal announcement, club chairman Chris Ammonds confirmed that this concludes a deal which the club and the council had marked at a home game with Boston Utd in April last year. At the time, the council’s Cabinet member for assets Harry Bramer called Hereford FC and the Edgar Street ground “an integral part of life in our city, and an asset to the whole county”. OTHER NEWS: Hereford United Supporters Trust chairman Richard Tomkins said the idea of moving the club to the south of the city had been mooted by its then director when it dropped out of the Football League in 1997. “But this never had any support from the fans,” he said. He welcomed any future investment in the ground enabled by the new lease, saying that following the demolition of the Blackfriars stand, “the Merton Meadow end also needs an upgrade”.