DIRECTOR Dave Wood urged Worcester City fans to make their voices heard over a proposed new stadium at Perdiswell.

Wood, also chairman of Worcester City Supporters’ Trust, has been tasked with leading the new-look board’s negotiations with city councillors to find a new home following more than five years in exile.

Following the trust’s rejected planning application for Perdiswell, the club switched focus to a third site at Parsonage Way with Worcester City Council offering up to £100,000 for feasibility studies.

Those studies were brought to an abrupt halt in July when council officers deemed the project unviable with then-chairman Anthony Hampson, who always maintained the council-owned land at Perdiswell would never be made available to the club, stepping down within a week.

The change at the top has seen attention turn back to the trust’s preferred site with supporters gathered at Saturday’s fans’ forum suggesting letters, petitions and even a demonstration at Worcester Guildhall.

Wood stressed after the meeting that City would continue to work in harmony with its local authority but argued in his address to supporters that the club had “a civic right” to support.

Put to him from the floor that the council would not back a land transfer at Perdiswell, Wood replied: “Personally, I have never been told that by any councillor. The council is not in a position to do that, it is not their right to do it.

“A community asset transfer is the first line we are looking at. If we put together a strong enough case for a community football club then I believe there is a very strong possibility of driving that through.”

He continued: “It is about all of us now. We have to be pushing our councillors and saying ‘this is what we want’.

“Councillors come and councillors go, they get voted in by us. We pay our rates and have the power to do this, that’s the reality of our democracy.

“If someone wants to come forward and state categorically that they will not allow the land to be used then let them come forward.

“Nobody has publicly done that because I don’t believe they are in a position to.”

Wood was later asked whether the club had a back-up plan should Perdiswell not come to fruition.

“As a board member of this club I have to keep an open mind,” he replied.

“I believe (in) Perdiswell and have been working on it for the past few years but I am realistic enough to understand if it doesn’t happen, we will have to have alternatives.

“Part of my discussion with the council was to look at those alternatives and see what viable options there are going forward. Everything is on the table again in that respect.

“I have come in fresh, not like before when things were drifting down the Parsonage Way route. Now we are back to an open table and I have told the council I will be talking to the planning agency I dealt with to look at what could be put in place.

“There is a lot of speculation about not needing a huge stadium. It (Perdiswell) was never a huge stadium.

“They are asking whether it could be modified. These are things I cannot answer because it has to go to the board and to the supporters’ trust.

“But whatever is done has to be done quickly. We need to be back in Worcester, generating income for ourselves because the club will not survive without it.

“There is money left in the bank but it will only last for so long.

“We are back at the table looking at what is viable and I’m not talking about a permanent ground, I am talking about a ground share or whatever it might be. The sooner we get back into Worcester, the better.”