Portman Road has been declared an Asset of Community Value (ACV) after a representation by the Ipswich Town Independent Supporters Trust to Ipswich Borough Council.
ACV designation is a product of recent legislation — the Localism Act 2011 and the Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012 — and, in footballing terms, means that if a ground’s owners decide they want to sell up, they should initially offer fan groups or other community bodies the first opportunity to make an offer for it.
According to Supporters Direct, the umbrella organisation which provides support and assistance for supporters trusts, there have been at least 54 occasions when clubs have been separated from the ownership of their grounds in the last 20 years and usually this has "not resulted in positive outcomes" for those clubs.
Amongst the grounds already labelled ACVs are Old Trafford, Anfield, Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium and Nuneaton Town’s Liberty Way.
Colin Kreidewolf, the secretary of Ipswich Town Ist, said: "Supporters trusts at Liverpool, Manchester United and Oxford United have recently been successful in having their clubs' stadia recognised as ACVs, reflecting the value of those grounds to their respective local communities.
"Our view is that Portman Road is just as important to the people of Ipswich, and to Ipswich Town supporters generally, as Anfield is to the people of Liverpool.
"We’re delighted that the Borough Council agree — this is a fitting way to mark the 125th anniversary of Ipswich Town’s move to Portman Road on 1st October 1888.”
While Town own Portman Road's stands and other buildings, IBC own the land with the Blues having signed a lease on the 8½ acre site in August 2001, the term lasting for 125 years from June 1969, the date of the start of an earlier agreement.
In 2011, former chief executive Simon Clegg told TWTD that the club was keen to gain the ground's freehold, having had a bid believed to be in the region of £1 million rebuffed.
Councillor David Ellesmere, leader of IBC, says his organisation has not considered selling the ground and backs the ACV listing in order to protect it for the future: "The current council administration has no intention of selling Portman Road.
"We are very happy to support listing Portman Road as an Asset of Community Value to give supporters the reassurance they need that ITFC will remain in the heart of Ipswich.”
But while the current council has no plans to sell, Ipswich MP Ben Gummer recently suggested that off-loading Portman Road could be a way for IBC to raise some cash and future council administrations might feel the same.
The ACV listing requires that IBC administrations of the future should consult the local community prior to a sale, allowing six months in which that community might raise the money in order to buy it.
Kreidewolf added: "We appreciate that the current IBC administration has no desire to sell Portman Road, and are pleased to see it remaining in public ownership.
"Having ACV status means that any future administration at the council wouldn’t be able to change that situation without involving supporters and local people.
"It helps to safeguard the future of Portman Road as a part of the Ipswich community. We hope that the current owner of Ipswich Town will also recognise this as a positive move for the football club.”
Tom Hall, head of England at Supporters Direct, said: "Ipswich Town Ist should be congratulated in their work to make sure that Portman Road takes its place alongside Old Trafford and Anfield, and the first two, Oxford United and Nuneaton Town, in having stadia successfully listed.
"We are seeing this trend escalate and many more applications are being lodged from across the pyramid.
"This and all other successful listings are demonstrating that our view that clubs and their stadia should be seen as community assets and not simply as part of an investment portfolio is being widely accepted.”