WORCESTER City vice-chairman Jim Panter has every confidence that the sale of St George’s Lane will come to fruition.

The Blue Square South club have agreed a price of £3.5million with Wembley-based property developer Careys New Homes and fans voted in favour of the deal on Tuesday night. As part of the agreement, the club will stay at their present home until June 2012.

However, receiving any money is subject to Careys gaining planning permission and their revised scheme is not due to go before Worcester City Council until February.

The club owe £1.55m to the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is due to be paid by the end of 2009, however, it is expected the demand for payment will be delayed until Careys’ application has been heard.

Panter said: “Careys have had plenty of detailed discussions with the planning committee about the restructured scheme and the indications have all been positive so we go forward with a high degree of hope, if not expectation.

“What we intend to do is let the bank see how certain we are that Careys will get the necessary permission and we anticipate that they will appreciate the advanced stage of the offer. We believe then the bank will extend things for another two months.

“If Careys don’t get planning permission we will have to look at the reasons why and put a plan in place which meets the requirement of the planners.”

Tuesday’s meeting also saw concerns raised over how the club will plug the £720,000 funding gap between selling the Lane and building a new stadium at Nunnery Way.

One option is through a £175,000 stadium improvement grant from the Football Foundation. However, the club’s supporters trust say the most a Blue Square South club can apply for is £150,000, only payable once the club has raised the rest of the outstanding money.

The trust also believe a naming rights deal in the region of £50,000 is ambitious and such deals are usually done over a period of years.

City, though, are also confident of having their capital gains tax waived on the sale of the Lane. The club also plan to buy the five-acre section of the Nunnery Way site from St Modwen by using profits from the enabling development, which is expected to cost £100,000 per acre.

Director Dave Boddy declined to comment on why he was not present at Tuesday’s meeting.