A YOUTH football chairman is appealing for landowners in Devizes to help find his 300 young members a new place to play.

Nathan Sheridan, who has been a member of Devizes Football Club since he was a boy, is fed up with waiting for the main club to relocate and has decide the time might have come for the youth to go it alone.

He said: "The main club has been in discussions about relocating for several years now but nothing has happened. Our own facilities for the youth organisation at Devizes is very poor and extremely dangerous for children to train and play football on. We need to find a rich business person and a farmer who has some land spare."

He pointed to successful schemes in other towns such as Stanley Park in Chippenham, Beversbrook in Calne and Leafy Lane in Corsham as models Devizes would like to follow.

Plans for the Devizes Town ground in Nursteed Road to be sold to a housing developer for up to 60 homes have been in the pipeline for many years but each time the scheme appears to be gaining momentum it has hit a stumbling block.

Chairman Shaun Moffatt is now optimistic a deal could still be done and has arranged a meeting with MP Claire Perry at the ground on December 12.

Mr Moffatt said: "There have been a lot of delays which have been frustrating for all of us. But we would much rather try and work with the youth and keep everything as one club. In recent months we have moved forward as Claire Perry has become involved and we have another meeting arranged with her.

"We are also talking to the FA about funding. Football has been a bit of a Cinderella sport in Devizes compared with other clubs such as rugby which has managed to get big grants. My own son is part of the youth so I want what is best for it. The main club is also struggling to find training pitches and we have had to travel as far as Royal Wootton Bassett."

In the past there have been plans for the football club to move to land at Green Lane leased by the town council from the NHS.

Devizes Town Council deputy clerk Simon Fisher said he too is keen for something to happen. He said: "We have been talking about all of this for years. We have more than 14 acres of green space at Green Lane and we want it to be used.

"We will be talking to a number of football clubs about how it can be used in the future. We would very much like the main Devizes club to be part of that."

But old changing rooms at Green Lane have been demolished and it is likely to cost more than £50,000 for them to be replaced. A considerable amount of money would also have to be spent to create proper pitches and training land.