THE County Ground is not the right site for Swindon Town FC, according to a Labour councillor.

Coun Mavis Childs (Lab, Walcot) thinks the club needs to move elsewhere and is calling on Swindon Council to find alternative sites.

She will table a motion at the next full council meeting on November 18 when a Conservative councillor will put forward a motion asking the council to consider redeveloping the County Ground.

Coun Childs said: "We have got to get real it is not the right place for it. It is called moving with the times.

"People say it could stay where it is but Walcot has had to put up with that for years.

"It has gradually got worse and worse and worse. When there is a match on you wouldn't be able to get an ambulance or a fire engine down there. I think it is time it moved.

"The administration promised the club a piece of land where they could develop. They should keep to their word.

"That is what I am asking them to do not to put it on a back-burner but to look for somewhere for the club."

Coun Justin Tomlinson (Con, Abbey Meads) has tabled a motion for the same meeting calling for the council and the New Swindon Company to work with the club to help redevelop the County Ground. The site is not part of the New Swindon Company's remit for regenerating the town centre but Coun Tomlinson said a redeveloped football stadium would form a key gateway to the town.

Reacting to news of Coun Child's motion Tony Norris, chairman of the Swindon Town Supporters Trust, said he could not understand why it had been made.

He said the trust did not want it to become a party political issue.