WYRE Forest District Council has temporarily suspended legal proceedings against Bewdley Town Football Club over the club’s decision to keep its floodlights upright.

The floodlights are supposed to be lowered into a horizontal position when the sports field is not in use but club officials say that is “impossible” if it means at the end of every game.

They have applied for a variation of the planning condition so that the lights only have to be lowered at the close of the season.

As a result, legal proceedings have been suspended by the council, pending the outcome of the application.

Geoff Edwards, chairman of the Ribbesford Meadows-based club, said: “I’m as confident as I can be but if it goes to the planning development control committee then they have rejected us before.

“They don’t seem to have a clue what they are asking of us. We have been getting so frustrated and exasperated trying to explain it to them.”

Mr Edwards said the committee members would not come to the ground and see for themselves the difficulties involved in lowering the floodlights.

He explained that club volunteers had recently endangered themselves when they attempted to lower the poles as a sign of goodwill to the council.

Mr Edwards said the first floodlight they had tried to lower collapsed and narrowly missed the group as it crashed down and buried itself two feet into the ground.

He added it would cost the club £2,000 to replace the smashed lights and repair the bent pole.

He said: “I have always said it was dangerous. You can imagine the damage a 15ft pole could do to you coming down with such force.

“We have always been saying we are in an impossible situation and this incident proved it. Not just anyone can bring down the floodlights.

“We would need half a dozen volunteers specially training for handling them and we just don’t have such resources”.

John Baggott, the planning case officer, warned that the application would probably be considered by the committee in September.