Legal action over Hull City's academy team pitch

The owners of Hull City are facing legal action from the council after the club installed an artificial pitch in a sports arena.

Hull City Council said it had started proceedings against the Stadium Management Company (SMC) in "relation to a breach of the terms of its lease of the Airco Arena".

Groups were stopped from using the venue after the pitch was installed in April for use by the club's youth team.

The SMC has not yet commented.

The arena is part of a sports complex in the city's West Park which includes the KC Stadium, home of Hull City and Hull FC.

The facilities were built by the council and are still owned by the authority, but are managed by SMC which is run by Assem Allam and his son Ehab Allam, the owners of Hull City.

The Championship club claimed the synthetic pitch was required to improve its youth academy rating under FA guidelines.

More than 3,000 people signed a petition opposing Hull City's move, which left a number of community sports clubs without a home.

The council's legal officer Ian Anderson described the legal action as "regrettable" and said he hoped the authority could reach an "amicable solution" with the football club.

"Whilst we have managed to help many of the sports groups who are affected, there are many for whom the Airco Arena provides the only option," he said.

"The facility remains an important part of the city's community sports provision, reflecting the reason the council originally invested in its development, and we have a duty to safeguard that."