Exclusive by Tom Bradshaw

Bath Rugby have £3 million of funding in place to build a state-of-the-art training base at Lambridge, thisisbath can reveal.

The money is available for Bath Rugby to build the best training complex of any side in the Premiership, but the club is hamstrung until B&NES Council makes a definitive decision about where it wants to develop a park-and-ride base to the east of the city.

The club is anxious to replace its current dilapidated site off London Road with a new training centre, not least because a number of players have previously voiced their frustration at the current facilities.

But until a final decision is made on where the city's eastern park-and-ride will be based, the club says it is not prepared to plough funds into improving the Lambridge site.

The council's preferred location for the park-and-ride is Bathampton Meadows, but – should that option founder in response to vocal opposition from local residents – it has not completely shut the door on seeking to develop the Lambridge site.

However, Bath Rugby could receive the breakthrough it needs on Wednesday when B&NES Council's development control committee meets to discuss whether to give the Bathampton Meadows proposal the green light.

If that scheme does indeed get the go-ahead, then the club is likely to swiftly submit its own planning application to improve the Lambridge training ground.

The club has already commissioned architects to draw up plans for a future plush facility at Lambridge and has had a scale model prepared.

Under plans seen by the Chronicle, the new-look site would include a gym, restaurant, a new access route for vehicles and two pitches.

Bath Rugby chief executive Bob Calleja said the club was itching to develop Lambridge to the tune of £3 million. The site is owned by the trustees of Bath FC, a forerunner of Bath Rugby.

"The development is already financed," said Calleja. "We have got our planning team all ready to go.

"We need a decision on Bathampton Meadows so we can proceed with Lambridge, because if Bathampton Meadows fails the council may revert back to Lambridge."

Bath head coach Steve Meehan shares Calleja's enthusiasm for the plans for improving Lambridge.

"We have got to be patient – and I think we have been so far, in the main," said Meehan.

"I've seen the plans for Lambridge and they are fantastic.

"I would hope that we can come back in late June and that at least one meeting has taken place between the club and planners and that things are going forward. It would be fantastic to get some answers."

Meanwhile, the club has conceded that the bill for developing The Rec, should the club get the green light to do so from both the Charity Commission and the council, would now be in the region of £20 million – a sum that the club is unable to raise given present money market conditions.