ANOTHER area of Swansea looks set to have a new 3G sports pitch after senior councillors agreed to allocate £1.33m to the project.
A report before cabinet said the pitch planned in Penlan would be built adjacent to the Mynydd Newydd playing fields by Penlan Leisure Centre and Ysgol Bryn Tawe. It would include a new sports building and be run by Freedom Leisure – a not-for-profit operator which runs several leisure centres on behalf of the council.
Swansea has previously been found to be lacking in all-weather sports pitches given its population and large sports club infrastructure resulting in football and rugby matches being postponed or cancelled during wet weather – particularly among junior sections.
But new 3G pitches available for school and community use have been built by Morriston Comprehensive School, Morriston; Penyrheol Comprehensive School, Penyrheol; and Cefn Hengoed School, Bonymaen.
Another two have recently been completed at Underhill Park, Mumbles, and at playing fields at Swansea Bay Sports Park, Sketty, although the work was not done by the council.
The pitch planned in Penlan would ideally be full-sized – 117m x 75m – and floodlit. The council will, with support from the Swansea City AFC Foundation – the football club’s charitable arm – now seek a grant of up to £750,000 from sports charity the Football Foundation.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on June 20 Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, said: “There is a great need for this pitch.” It would, said the cabinet member for regeneration, serve Ysgol Bryn Tawe, Ysgol Tirdeunaw and the wider Penderry ward. Further surveys are required and planning permission would be needed before work could start.
The cabinet report said the council would provide £485,000 for the project and that national body Sport Wales had pledged a £100,000 contribution.
Cllr Andrea Lewis, deputy council leader, said a lot of work had taken place behind the scenes to get to this point. “It will be a great asset for the community, I’m sure,” she said.
