A long-running legal battle between Stanford in the Vale Parish Council and the village football club has come to an end.

Footballers have agreed to pay £600 rent a year and backdated rent to the council for their ground, rising to £700 over the next four years and £800 for the following three years. The three-year row over the lease agreement followed a re-evaluation of the land's rental value by the parish council.

The club had been paying a peppercorn rent of £1, but based on 1998 figures, the market rent for the pitch and clubhouse was calculated at £2,700 per annum.

The council served players notice to quit the recreation ground after the club agreed to pay £600 a year but rejected proposals for additional three-yearly increases of 25 per cent over 15 years. The agreed rate is discounted as some of the club' facilities are used for other groups.

Parish council chairman Gerry McMorrow said: "I think the football club had not realised that the council is bound by local government law when it comes to leases. It's not just a question of us doing what we choose to do."

Club secretary Dean Grimes said he was happy with the compromise, which was close to the club's original offer.