HYTHE & Dibden – away to Alresford Town in the FA Vase first round proper today – have a new ground on the hori zon for next season.

The Sydenhams Division One club can start preparing to leave their Jones Lane base now that planning permission has been approved for a move to the nearby Clayfields Sport Centre.

It will provide the Waterside club with a much-needed facility of their own having had to share the Ewart Recreation Ground with Hythe & Dibden Cricket Club for many years.

“With the youth section now on board, we’re all as one as a club. We’ve got 17 teams here now, with an academy for youngsters from seven to 18 and we need a ground to call our own,” said H&D chairman Dave Cox.

“Clayfields is all closed in and we’ll have brand new floodlights that will stay in place – unlike the ones at Jones Lane which come down every year on one side, along with the handrails, ready for the cricket to take over.

“Jones Lane is outdated and us moving out will help the cricket club too because they’ve got loads of colts sides and, like us, they need space to breathe. It really is a good thing for the future of local sport and for the Hythe parish in general.

“There are two pitches at Clayfields, the changing rooms are okay and they’ve got a build ing there we can use and develop into a bar.

“We should be in the new ground for next season. Hopefully, it will be the start of something big for Hythe & Dibden FC.”

* Full story and lots more regional non-League news in this weekend's Pink.