Blues chief executive Simon Clegg says the club has started discussions with the new Ipswich Borough Council regime regarding the disputed 743% backdated rent rise on the land on which the Portman Road stadium is sited. IBC switched from a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition to Labour control after May’s local elections.
Clegg said: "I have met with the new regime and spoke to the leaders of all political parties during the election process. I have subsequently formally met with the new leader and the chief executive and this is still a live issue.”
In March, then-Council deputy leader John Carnall said the club had failed to pay back rent of just over £500,000 — the figure having risen from £15,000 to £111,000 per annum - and that the situation could ultimately result in legal action.
The Town chief outlines how the situation developed: "They could have initiated a rent review in 2004, but they didn’t. Instead, they initiated it after Marcus acquired the club and they wanted a rise significantly larger than the 743% increase.
"So, we went to independent arbitration over the issue. The arbitrator decided to come down somewhere in the middle, considerably greater than the increase we had indicated we thought was appropriate and considerably less than the figure IBC was seeking.
"IBC then indicated that they wished to backdate that to when the rent review could have taken place in 2004.
"We are in discussions with IBC and these discussions with the new regime are in their early stages. The new regime has only been in place for a couple of months now and they’ve had a lot of issues to get their heads around.”