THE future of a sports club remains uncertain as it struggles to move to new premises.

The Paignton (Torbay) Rifle and Pistol Club is hoping to move from its current site in Clennon Valley to new purpose-built facilities in a field in Churston off Bridge Road.

The club, the oldest in the Bay, is expected to move from Clennon Valley by September when its lease runs out.

However, rifle club bosses said things had not moved along at all since the club was given its notice last year.

Club treasurer Joan Cooper said the club would try to enter into a consortium with Brixham Archers, Brixham Villa Football Club and possibly a netball team to use the Churston field site.

The club had first tried to find suitable accommodation in Goodrington but the move fell though.

Mrs Cooper said: "The council was supposed to help us find a new site quickly or renew our notice for our current site as it is bound to do by law. But it seems to be dragging its feet."

She said the move to Churston Field was difficult because while the archers' club could shoot outside, the rifle club needed a purpose-built range which could only be funded through the club itself, especially as the National Smallbore Rifle Association does not give out grants for capital projects.

Mrs Cooper also said the proposed health centre on the Clennon Valley site was supposed to be a two-storey building and would move in quickly.

But new plans have emerged for a three-storey building, and a new consultation scheme has begun involving a leaflet drop in the neighbourhood.

Mrs Cooper said: "The health care trust has had to go back to the public to ask them what they would like to see in the centre. But I don't know anyone who has received this leaflet. I don't think it's a public consultation if the public have not been consulted.

"I'm concerned they will just push through with whatever they want saying no one has objected to their plans. There is no way we can move anywhere if we don't get a lease extension. We're concerned for the future of the club."

A spokesman for Torbay Care Trust said more than 21,000 leaflets had been distributed directly to homes in Paignton and neighbouring areas and to GP surgeries and libraries, as part of a three-month consultation.

He said: "As is to be expected with such large scale distribution, a very small number of householders have reported not receiving a leaflet. Where we have been made aware of this we have sent duplicate copies to people's homes.

"The next step in this exciting project is to discuss our consultation findings with the council's health overview and scrutiny committee in April and to then use those findings to help us complete a redesign of the health centre."

The spokesman added: "We have been offering assistance to the rifle and pistol club in their search for alternative accommodation as a result of their lease expiring at Clennon Valley.

"We will be holding another meeting very soon with the three clubs involved in a possible joint lease on premises in Churston for the development of a new sports complex."