Canterbury City Football Club were last night formally given the cash injection they need to make their new ground a reality.

The city council agreed to give the club £525,000 in proceeds from the sale of its old Kingsmead Stadium and part lend, part grant it an extra £606,000.

Club chairman Tim Clark says the next step is working out the detailed plans for the ground at Hersden.

"We are very happy," Mr Clark said.

"It's still a big ask, but we have 75% of the money we need to do it and we have the ground."

Mr Clark says the club will now look to secure another £400,000 of the total £1.56 million needed.

If approved, a new ground with a 1,500 capacity including a 300-seat stand, floodlights and other facilities could be complete by 2018.

It will sit on a four-acre site to the north of the A28, close to 400 houses to be built by developer Persimmon Homes.

Of the money passed to the club by the city council, it will need to repay £300,000 as a loan.

Lib Dem group leader Alex Perkins, who is not seeking re-election on May 7, urged the Tory-controlled council grant the club the full £606,000.

His motion was defeated 20-12.

At the full council meeting in the Guildhall, Cllr Perkins said: "They are the only club who do not at the moment play in the city.

"We have been fighting for them to return, we have found the right place and we need to bring them back home."

Conservative Neil Baker added: "It would be great to have our football club back home. It's not just about the match days it's also about the involvement of children as well."

Canterbury City left the old Kingsmead stadium in 1999 when the council sold the site to a housing developer and currently play at Kingsnorth in Ashford.

They hope to submit a planning application for the new ground and to have made it to the Ryman Southern League by the time they move into it in 2018.