FOR a few weeks, Witney sports fans were able to dream, but in the end it came to a sad conclusion.

The proposed move of rugby club London Welsh to the town always felt a little unlikely, even when Witney Community Stadium’s owner, On the Edge, was given planning permission by West Oxfordshire District Council to provide stands holding 10,000 spectators.

There were concerns about parking and traffic along the way but there wasn’t much opposition to the plan from residents, who were perhaps understandably keen to have top-flight rugby union played on their doorstep.

In the end it was not to be, but this should not put a halt to efforts to find a new role for the stadium at the heart of the community.

Losing the site to developers would be a disaster and we welcome On the Edge co-director Gavin Brown’s pledge to continue to provide sports facilities.

Clearly, money will be needed to bring the ground back up to scratch, not to mention meeting the running costs which proved such a burden to Witney Town FC, but perhaps the events of recent weeks will spur on those involved in sport across the district to put their heads together and see if they can find a way ahead.

At a time when the town council is considering the future development of its own sports facilities and another 1,000 homes are to be built close to the stadium, there will never be a better time to tackle the question of how to make best use of this community asset.