Powys football club plot two new pitches to address field shortage

Plans have now been lodged with Powys Council to convert a patch of land to the south of Welshpool Rugby Club into the new pitches.

The former agricultural land has been let out for winter grazing for some years and not considered to be particularly productive land, and has now been earmarked for use by the community.

And the fundraising efforts on the land have now passed the £2,000 mark as it bids to raise £30,000 to complete the work.

The planning application says: “The proposed football pitches will be providing much-needed recreational space needed for not only the Football club for the Town in general.”

The proposed site is within walking distance of other pitches such as the Rugby Club, Waterloo Rovers and the Welshpool FC’s main football pitch.

The proposal also states that the pitches will be turfed with natural grass, meaning that the land can return to agricultural use if necessary, should the pitches become redundant.

Meanwhile, the application has also assured people that no heavy engineering work will be needed to create the fields, and that it will not involve additional traffic.

Welshpool FC has several teams within its franchise, with a women’s team, a reserve squad and eight junior teams with age ranges from 6 to 19.

The planning application also states: “As everyone knows, the lack of sporting facilities (especially football pitches) for the town in general has been a testing point in recent years, since the new School was built on existing communal pitches and no direct replacement was provided.

“Since, Welshpool Town Football Club have struggled to provide the necessary pitches for all age groups. At the moment they have to use the main senior pitch along with the cricket pitch. The over use of both pitches has led to cancelling junior training to ensure the pitch is good enough for games, which is not where the club wants to be in advocating social and personal skills for young children of the area.”