BUILDING work on a new 14,000 seat stadium for Southend United at Fossetts Farm can begin as soon as a funding deal with the council is approved.

Blues chairman Ron Martin moved to allay fears that the failure of Sainsbury’s to buy the Prospects College site yet would hold up the start of phase one of the new stadium which would be 22,000 seats once completed.

In an exclusive interview with the Echo Mr Martin said funds were in place for the initial three-sided stadium to be built once a legal agreement between the club and Southend Council over the timetable of a £3.5million sweetener to boost town centre trade was approved.

Mr Martin met the Echo in between a morning meeting with council chiefs and an afternoon appointment with lawyers in London over the finer details of the arrangement.

He also revealed a new planning application for the fourth western side of the stadium, which would increase the seats by 8,000, will be submitted in three to four months.

He said: “We won’t have to wait for that to be approved before work can begin on phase one of the stadium. The section 106 (planning agreement) is the next step and is being drafted.

This we hope and expect to receive this month.” Once Mr Martin, his bank, Sainsbury’s and the council agree the wording it can be signed off.

Mr Martin, who has been developing the project over the past decade, said building work had to begin this year.

He would not go into the exact reason, but hinted if not the plans in their current format may have to go back to the drawing board.

He said: “Everything is in place for the first phase, but we need to start work on that this year.”

On top of the Prospects site, Sainsbury’s still needs to purchase the freehold of the council-owned St Mary’s Court flats in Victoria Avenue, while the club still needs to acquire the freehold of the Boots and Laces training ground at Eastern Avenue and a small number of shops in Victoria Avenue.

The council has agreed it will support the use of compulsory purchase powers for these sites to be acquired, if necessary, but Mr martin hopes this can be avoided.

He said: “We would prefer to have finalised these purchase before any development, but it is not crucial for phase one to start. “We would prefer to agree terms by private treaty.

The shops are not on our critical path, but we want closure as soon as possible.”

The only thing that could derail the development once the planning agreement is finalised would be a legal challenge from a third party.

Mr Martin said: “If someone were to judicially review the planning permission and it went to the High Court that would stop us building.

But they would need to have legal grounds and we are confident everything has been covered.”