Concerns have been raised that Blackheath Rugby Club have used a pitch for nearly a whole season without signing a lease with the council.

The club began using facilities at the Hervey Road in September last year as a councillor has warned that a legal agreement may not be formalised until May “at the earliest”.

At a scrutiny meeting on Tuesday, April 23, Eltham North Councillor Charlie Davis pressed the cabinet member in charge on how the club was allowed to move in without an agreement being signed off.

Cllr Davis said: “The lease still hasn’t been agreed and we are looking towards May as the earliest.

“The rugby club begun using the facilities back in September so I want to know how there has been such a huge lapse between the rugby club beginning using the facilities at the start of the season with us now at the conclusion.

“From what I understand they haven’t paid anything and still haven’t signed the lease.”

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Blackheath Rugby Club have been using a small area of the site, and some schools also used facilities over winter.

Large areas of the field have been roped off during this period for public safety.

Katrina Delaney, Greenwich Council’s director of communities, said the lease has been signed and agreed, but not dated.

She said: “We had taken advice on whether we could unilaterally date it.

“There have been issues around the fit out of the bar, the security and the gates and the pitches. We share the absolute frustration of everyone involved and we want it signed and for them to be operating properly.”

Councillor Miranda Williams, the cabinet member for leisure, told the panel on Tuesday that there have been “teething issues” with the lease.

She said: “I think it is safe to say there were various teething problems with the site.

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“Although yes they took possession of a percentage of the ground area, they didn’t take possession of all of it. There were various other snagging issues with the building as well.

“The residents associations have a set of keys and they have been undertaking walks and bat counting and getting on with the bits and pieces.

“We are doing everything we can to get it moving as well.”

At the same meeting, councillors shared concerns that plans to sell Borough Hall in Greenwich to a performance company would kill Greenwich Theatre.