Lib Dem Councillors in Carshalton Central have issued an apology after wrongly accusing a football club of applying for adult entertainment on-site.
Councillors Jake Short, Jill Whitehead and Chris Williams sent a newsletter to residents which claimed that Carshalton Athletic FC submitted a licence application, for permission to allow adult entertainment on site despite it being in a "residential area with many young families."
The letter, which has recently come to light on social media, included a number of claims, which the Sutton Conservatives have branded a "libellous attack" on the club.
One section of the newsletter said: "Carshalton Athletic has submitted a new licensing application which seeks an increase in its licensed hours, and to introduce adult entertainment."
In response, Club Chairman Paul Dipre said: “To be clear, we have not applied for a licence to show adult entertainment nor to extend our operating hours, nor to play music later, nor to serve alcohol in new areas.
“I don’t know why these councillors have a vendetta against the club and its members. They seem to be hell-bent on creating conflict between residents and the club at the cost of the taxpayer.
The pandemic has made the last year difficult for everyone. This latest attack on the club and its hundreds of local family members is completely unwarranted.
"But let’s not blame the council for this, this is the act of three local councillors alone. The council are as disappointed as us.
“We have made an official complaint and are commencing legal proceedings against the councillors concerned.”
Since the media backlash, the Carshalton Central Ward Liberal Democrats issued a statement of apology online.
However, the club has since hit out on social media to say that the councillors have not taken full responsibility for their actions by "blaming conflicting sections of the application."
The apology, as seen by the Sutton Guardian, said: "In an email sent out on 26 April 2021, about the new licensing application submitted by Carshalton Athletic Football Club, we inadvertently included a number of inaccurate statements.
"We had no intention of doing so, but we made a genuine mistake in reading the application. It was wrong to publish an email to all of our residents before being certain of the content and we now realise how harmful it was to send our newsletter.
"We apologise the club, its members and all the residents who were misled by our incorrect statements."
To read Carshalton Athletic Football Club's full statement visit here.
To read the councillors full statement visit here.
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