FORMER Hereford Racecourse clerk John Williams is meeting lease holders next week.

Williams is having a face-to-face ‘exploratory’ discussion with ARC, the company which owns Hereford Racecourse’s leases.

Williams and his consortium want to revive horseracing at the Hereford track.

“It’s just an exploratory meeting,” said Williams. “It’s a positive step and it depends what they have in mind. They contacted me and wanted to speak to me. Everyone in my consortium is keen to do business.”

ARC announced, in the autumn, they would stop fixtures at racecourse at the end of 2012 because it had become ‘unviable’. ARC’s last race meeting at the Herefordshire Council-owned site took place before Christmas. However, ARC applied to renew the track’s licence to stage racing in 2013 as a substitute track.

“I was at the final meeting before Christmas and it was a good day,” said Williams, whose consortium includes leading people in Herefordshire racing circles.

“The weather was not great but there was a very good crowd.”