Swindon Town Football Club are set to meet the Swindon Town Supporters’ Trust after the trust formally submitted a nomination for the County Ground to be registered as a community asset.

Trust STFC has made the nomination to Swindon Council under the Localism Act of 2011 and, if successful, it would mean that if the council, as owners of the stadium, sought to sell the ground, Trust STFC would have the opportunity to bid to secure its future for the benefit of all supporters.

The move places Town and the trust at the front of a growing movement that has seen successful nominations made to protect other football grounds including Old Trafford, Anfield, Blackburn’s Ewood Park, Ipswich Town’s Portman Road and Oxford’s Kassam Stadium.

But STFC have yet to meet the Trust over the plans and Mark Isaacs, operations manager at the club, said they were trying to organise a summit.

He said: “The trust have not spoken to us about it and I don’t want to comment until we know more. That is what we are trying to do and we are in the process of formalising a meeting with them.

“We need to get together to find out what their objectives are.”

Speaking about the application and the meeting with the club, trust chairman Steve Mytton said: “While there is already a covenant in place protecting the County Ground, its listing as an asset of community value would be an important further step.

“It will mean that fans and the local community will be in the driving seat if there is ever a future decision to be made about the ground’s development or sale.

“As a trust, we want to strengthen bonds between the club and the community and we want to establish emergency plans to address any possible future crisis that could develop. The application to make the County Ground an asset of community value meets both these objectives perfectly.

The trust had requested a meeting to discuss the nomination and other matters towards the end of September.

“Although we heard nothing back then, we were in contact again last week, prior to the submission of the nomination of the County Ground as an Asset of Community Value. We hope to be able to meet in person – along with the Supporters Club – soon.”

The move to nominate the County Ground as a community asset is supported by the town’s Labour and Conservative politicians. Swindon North MP Justin Tomlinson, a long-time supporter of the club and the trust, said: “Time and time again we have had to fight off predatory, unscrupulous owners of Swindon Town determined to rip the heart out of our club.

“Thankfully we are now in calmer waters and it is right we should formally recognise and protect the County Ground.”

Councillor Jim Robbins (Labour, Mannington & Western), who is expected to put a supportive motion before the council, said: “It has been great to work with Trust STFC on this project. My team, Ipswich Town, have had their stadium protected in this way and I believe the same protection would prove useful for Swindon.

“Anything we can do to help protect the club, for the thousands of fans for whom STFC is a massive part of their lives, is great.”