On September 12, 2019, as leader of the Conservative councillors I put forward an emergency motion to a Full Meeting of Bury Council. The motion instructed Bury Council to immediately express its interest and put together a business plan for purchasing Bury FC and Gigg Lane. Sadly, this did not happen, but the-then leader of the council said during the debate that both sides of the chamber had the same “end goal”, the only difference being how to get there. In the Chancellor s Budget last week, among other announcements, the Chancellor announced the creation of the Community Ownership Fund. The Budget Red Book states the fund is to “help ensure that communities across the UK can continue to benefit from the local facilities that are most important to them.” It then goes further, “In exceptional cases up to £1m of matched funding will be available to….buy a sports ground at risk of loss from the community.”