A meeting of the Scrutiny Committee of Herefordshire Council took place at the Shirehall this morning.
Cllr W Bowen chaired the meeting along with twelve councillors and various senior council staff.
Around twenty members of the public listened to the proceedings including former Hereford United player Dudley Tyler.
The main purpose of the meeting was to consider whether anything could be learned from the recent leases for the Edgar Street football ground.
In particular there was discussion about whether new leases should give greater protection to the Council.
Amidst comments from councillors was a view that the two and a half year lease for Edgar Street on offer at present was too short. However the chairman felt it was the wrong time to discuss this given applications for the lease were currently being sought.
Another comment questioned whether correct information was given to solicitors acting for the Council.
Council Chairman Tony Johnson felt the Council had tried to help Hereford United with the leases.
Cllr Terry James wanted to ensure unsuitable people could never get their hands on Hereford United again.
Cllr Hubbard felt Edgar Street was an asset which should be put to community use. He was happy to have a short lease which would allow any pheonix club to rise and football to happen and then revisit the lease.
Later he suggested that any profit from any redevelopment of either end of the ground should go to help the youth system at the club.
Cllr Johnson felt the funding issue was for another day.
Martin Watson, HUST vice-chairman, said that HUST had helped several football clubs in the county recently who were short of funds.
"There's a strong will in HUST to help grow the football pathway."
In particular he had spoken to the HFA who were short of football pitches.
Tony Featherstone for the Council told the meeting there was 'constant dialogue with the HFA' about pitches and money.
Watson was critical of the amount of different people handling the lease negotiations. He also noted an e-mail from Pinsent Masons about the winding up petition relating to Hereford United which appeared to show the Council had not told them about matters for several days.
Watson told the meeting that when the football ground was originally sold to the Council there was a covenant included in the sale known as the Jackson bequest.
"Over time this has been watered down, it needs to be put back into the leases."
Later the Council agreed several recommendations for any future leases
Comments made at the meeting by former Hereford United chairman David Keyte can be read here: http://www.bullsnews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/no-one-came-forward-to-help-us-said.html