A SALISBURY sports and social club is finally set to get the peppercorn rent it has been seeking, after nearly eight months of bureaucratic delays.

The Bemerton Heath Harlequins club rents land on Western Way from Salisbury City Council but its 21-year lease came up for renewal in March.

The club, which organises community events and has raised more than £40,000 for charities, asked the council to allow it to pay a peppercorn rent in recognition of all the work it has done for the community and charity over the past two decades.

Councillors were keen to support it, but problems arose when they couldn’t decide which of the council’s committees should make the decision on whether to agree it.

It was passed from committee to committee with no resolution until it was finally decided that criteria would have to drawn up to be followed in such a situation.

Officers have now developed a governance plan, including community benefit targets, for clubs to follow to get a reduced rent, and Harlequins members finally got the good news that they can carry on renting the land at low cost on Monday.

Club chairman Ricky Rogers said: “We would like the club to continue to serve the community. We welcome the criteria set for those who come after us to continue delivering to the community.”

Cllr John Abbott, chairman of the council’s policy and resources committee, said: “I’d like to thank all the members of the public, people from the club and councillors for their help with this.

“I hope you will see that we have tried to do our best with a very difficult paper and a lot of work has gone into it.”