Next Monday week (October 8) is a crunch date in the history of Barnet FC when the future of the club over the next few years will be decided ... even, in the worst case scenario, whether the Bees can remain in the Football League.

On that date members of Barnet Planning Committee meet to decide on a planning application submitted by chairman Tony Kleanthous on behalf of the club for new stands at the North and South ends of Underhill, for new floodlights and for improved disabled facilities for home and away supporters.

Obviously, at the time of writing, the club is not sure whether or not the application will succeed or even whether the officers will recommend approval, but the plan was submitted after lengthy consultations with the local authority officers to bring Barnet FC to the minimum standard required by a League 2 club.

Let me outline the options:-

IF the plan gets the go-ahead, work will start almost immediately on a covered South Stand - the requirement is for 2,000 covered seats at the ground - to be in place by the end of the season, plus part of the work on a covered North Stand for away supporters and much needed facilities for the disabled.

The Football League support the improvements, the Football Foundation have granted the club 50 per cent Phase One funding, the Football Licensing Authority have agreed the work and the building contractors are in place to begin in November, although the refurbishment will obviously cause some inconvenience and disruption while the club bids to meet the end-of-season deadline.

IF, on the other hand, the plan is unsuccessful then Barnet FC will have to enter into talks with the Football League about a possible groundshare or, perhaps, dispensation because the situation is out of our hands while we work with them to find a solution. Barnet FC has a good relationship with the League; none of the club's ground problems is to do with them.

A vote by the councillors in favour of the plan will secure the future of Barnet FC at the ground where football has been played for the past 100 years for at least the next few seasons.

Whatever the outcome, the long term ambition of the club is to move to a stadium with a capacity of up to 10,000 to enable Barnet FC to progress through the leagues.

The history of Barnet FC's aim for a short term solution at Underhill and the long term objective of a new stadium, preferably in the borough of Barnet, has been well chronicled.

Relations with the council, since the change in ruling party, have not always been of the best but there have been encouraging noises from the town hall in recent times that Barnet FC is seen as a community asset and there is a will to move forward. The Chairman has established a good rapport with the new leader of the council, Councillor Mike Freer, who has shown an understanding and appreciation of the football club's impossible dilemma.

The planners on Monday week will have letters of support for the current application from Mrs Theresa Villiers, the MP for Chipping Barnet, who says: "I believe that the club is a much valued part of our community and our social fabric in Barnet and I hope that we are soon to see an end to the long controversy surrounding Underhill".

She has also written to Stewart Murray, the borough's Director of Planning and Environmental Protection, saying that she hopes that the committee will take her views into account when making their decision because … "I believe that many of my constituents strongly wish (as I do) to see the club's long term future in the borough secured".

While awaiting the Barnet decision, the Chairman is able to report that planning permission for the 44-acre Prince Edward Playing Fields site in Edgware is at an advanced stage and the legal agreements finally completed. Full and comprehensive details of this exciting development will be available on this website in the next few weeks.

Part of the overall plan for the Prince Edward site will provide a training ground for Barnet FC that will be the envy of many and end the nomadic roaming around Hertfordshire for manager Paul Fairclough and his squad.

Dennis Signy