The long-term development of land around Huish Park will be done to benefit the club, chairman Martin Hellier has promised supporters.
Talking at a fans’ forum on Tuesday night, he insisted the buy-back of the land from Somerset Council was “on the radar” and said he has turned away proposals for development which did not fit his plans for the site.
In May 2022, the authority – then known as South Somerset District Council – bought the land from former chairman <NAME REDACTED> for £2.8m and rented back the “core land” which the stadium sits on back to the club on a 30-year lease. When he bought the club in May 2023, the owner negotiated the exclusive buy-back rights on the land until 17th May 2026.
Responding to fans’ questions about the future of the land, he said: “Whatever happens that land is going to get developed on. When you talk about the rent, I probably pay £100,000 a year to watch people walk their dogs on that land, so it is not my interests. Since the council bought it back for £2.8m, they kindly index linked that for us, so that is £3.2m and add that to the £3.8m (which has been put in to the club to date) we are in to £7m. We are well aware of the timeline, we have until May 2026 to buy back the land, we hold exclusive buy-back rights on the land, so no-one can come in and take that away from us.
“We want any surplus that comes in from that development to come directly to the club, that is not to me, it is to the club. Without those buy-back rights, someone else could come in and become your landlord. It is on our radar, but I have to be sensible as part of the group I own and the funds we have available to allocate.
“We have had several people approach us (with proposals), but their proposals would not suit what we want to do. We have to deal with the right fire in the right order. I am going to make more of that 3G pitch up that for some nine-versus-nines. The land is a concern for a lot of fans, but whatever comes from it will be for the benefit of the club. As long as I live in Yeovil I will not be looking to do anything (which does not benefit the club), because it is the golden egg for us if we do it in the right way.”

The Gloverscast contacted Somerset Council in December to ask for its position on the long-term future of the land and having confirmed the details of the current arrangements, it added that it had not engaged in any conversations with other parties about the future of the land.
In response to our question about its intentions for the long-term future of the land, a statement from the council said: “It is highly unlikely that the Council would sell the freehold of the stadium or remaining land unless it judged that the decision would play a part of supporting the future of the club. Any such decision would be subject to our usual democratic decision-making processes.
“The use of the football stadium is also protected by the lease which permits use only for football club purposes and related ancillary uses. This lease runs until 2046.“
In response to a question from our own Ian Perkins at the forum, Martin Hellier said that he had put £3.8m in to the club since his takeover and said the council had made the value of the land at Huish Park “index-linked“, meaning its value rises in line with inflation. The chairman said this meant the land which Somerset Council paid £2.8m for in May 2022 was now worth £3.2m.
That is on top of the £195,000 which the club pays the authority each year in rent for Huish Park, a figure confirmed by the club’s accounts for the year ending June 2022.
The chairman added: “Since the council bought it back for £2.8m, they kindly index linked that for us, so that is £3.2m and add that to the £3.8m (which has been put in to the club to date) we are in to £7m.”

In response to the question about the financial state of the club, he said: “It is in a far more stable position than it was. The first call I had when I came in was from HM Revenue and Customs saying ‘we are going to wind you up tomorrow if you don’t pay this large amount of money and you have to pay more next week. The first ten days probably saw us paying out five digit numbers every day, so we probably cleared away £500,000 of debt within ten days of arriving.
“We had numbers of staff paying bits and pieces on Ebay to pay bills, so the first thing was steadying a ship which had capsized. We have put £3.8m in to the club which is money we will undoubtedly not get back, but that is my problem. So it is a far better position than it was, but it is still a tough gig as it is for any club that is below the EFL and even at EFL you are breaking even. We are in it for the long run and because we love the club and clubs in this league exist for as long as the chairman is funding it. It is hard to make the numbers work but we came in with a long-term target of EFL. If you map that out from the beginning to where we are now, I would say that journey is going well. It will continue to need money, but that is what it is.”
You can watch the fans’ forum in full on the club’s YouTube channel – here – with the question-and-answer session starting around 30 minutes in to the recording.