The chairman of Ayr United criticised South Ayrshire Council for allegedly jeopardising plans to move to a new stadium as accounts filed at Companies House showed the Scottish Football League Second Division club lurched into the red last year.

Claiming that a scheme to sell Somerset Park for housing to finance a modern replacement could transform the club's fortunes, Lachlan Cameron warned that planning delays could make it impossible to move in time for the 2009-10 season.

"We are waiting on the council to approve the stadium and as soon as that happens we receive a large sum of funds but we keep on being told it's not a priority. There are other applications up the food chain and they don't have enough people on," Cameron told The Herald.

"If we don't break ground in July we will not make it (for 2009-10) but the council seems to have no timetable to approve this.

"Meanwhile, the cost of steel keeps rising and the estimated costs (of the new stadium) have risen by £2m."

Speaking ahead of a meeting with council officials today, Cameron warned that its actions could cause serious problems for a scheme that was unveiled in 2006 and which he claimed would bring big benefits to Ayrshire.

Ayr United has agreed to sell the five-acre Somerset Park to Barratt, subject to planning permission to build a stadium on a 14-acre site at Heathfield.

Cameron said it received provisional planning consent in January.

The scheme will include all-weather sports facilities that could be used by local people and office accommodation for which the club has identified tenants.

This could provide a valuable revenue stream for Ayr, which is reliant on the financial support of directors.

Cameron, whose father Donald bought a controlling stake from the Barr construction group in 2003, said the move could help put Ayr United on a sounder footing and allow it to attract a new investor.

He declined to say how much Barratt would pay for Somerset Park but confirmed the receipts would allow Ayr to pay off outstanding loans and build a stadium that would meet the SFL's criteria.

Abbreviated accounts show the club made a retained loss of £102,407 in the year to June 2007 compared with a retained profit of £41,380 in 2006.

Cameron said the 2006 result had been boosted by a good cup run while the costs of ongoing work on the stadium plan had weighed on earnings in the latest year.

Accountant Pritchards highlighted "uncertainty as to the timing of cash inflows and the reliance of the company on the financial support of the directors" but did not qualify its report.

A spokeswoman for South Ayrshire Council said the council was "fully supportive" of Ayr United. She said consent had been given for the Heathfield stadium but complications regarding affordable housing provision due to be built on the Somerset Park site had delayed the signing of the legal agreement.

"The council has a responsibility to ensure that socially affordable housing is provided as part of the project."