73150-63THE CAMPAIGN to turn the County Ground into a first-class sports facility is gathering pace with thousands of signatures collected on the petition.

So far, more than 2,800 people have signed the petition to show their support for the plans to give the County Ground a facelift.

Paul Davis, of the Swindon Town Supporters' Trust, said: "We're very pleased with the response from the fans and we've even had some politicians putting their names down.

"Lots of people are starting to hear about the petition to secure Town's future at the County Ground and they're really keen to learn more about it."

The stadium debate was reopened last week when Coun Justin Tomlinson (Cons, Abbey Meads) tabled a motion asking the council to work with the club to help redevelop the County Ground.

The Tory's motion was then challenged by the town's Labour party, which will present a contrasting motion at a Council meeting on November 18 calling for an alternative site to be found.

The supporters' trust had hoped the issue wouldn't become a political football and wanted cross-party support.

It is hoping the number of signatures collected will rise significantly after the home match against Torquay today and the first round of the FA Cup on November 13.

Trust chairman Tony Norris is also hoping fans will write to their local council members to back the motion of redeveloping the club's existing home.

The Liberal Democrats are giving their support to the Tories motion. Coun Michael Dickinson (Lib Dem, Central), who was at Wednesday night's match against Sheffield Wednesday, said: "We had an extremely positive response and quite a lot of Sheffield Wednesday fans signed the petition because they know the benefit of Swindon playing at their spiritual home.

"So it's not only Swindon fans that want it and residents know the alternative would be worse."

Details are scant at this early stage regarding how the current stadium would be revamped.

The idea was mooted before when West Swindon protesters voiced their outrage at plans for a 22,000 all-seater stadium at Shaw.

However, there are concerns that the County Ground is too small.

Bob Holt, acting chief executive of the club, said: "There currently isn't enough space at the County Ground to make it a profitable space.

"We would need to use the stadium to create other revenue earning activities."

Emma-Kate Lidbury