Rugby club fears pitch loss in school growth plan

A RUGBY club has raised “grave concerns” over plans which could see it losing its main pitch over plans to expand a school.

Caerphilly County Borough Council concluded a statutory notice in February to expand Trinity Fields School and Resource Centre to provide an extra 80 places.

Now Penallta RFC has hit out over the council’s alternative sites for matches.

Speaking at an education scrutiny committee, the treasurer of Penallta RFC, Scott Lowe, said the development would leave the rugby club without its main pitch – Trinity One.

He said: “Previous information shared with members has suggested our rugby club barely uses this field but I can assure you that this is our club’s main pitch.

“Across the 14 teams in our club we play 100 home games a season, roughly 50 of those will be on Trinity One, as well as several mini junior festivals and numerous training sessions throughout the year.

“The reason this pitch is used so much is due to the lack of other options.”

Mr Lowe said the other pitch at the site – Trinity Two – is regularly flooded.

“It’s also a common misconception that we have some priority usage at the nearby Centre for Sporting Excellence,” Mr Lowe said.

“This is completely false. The expense and restrictions around usage at the centre mean that of the 14 teams in our club, the first team are the only ones to access that facility, playing 10 to 15 games a season there.”

The director of education and corporate services at Caerphilly council, Richard Edmunds, said that if the plans went ahead then Trinity Two wouldn’t be left as it is.

Mr Edmunds said the pitch would be repurposed to be made usable for the rugby club.

He said at the meeting: “The mitigation that is required of us for repurposing that one pitch is to provide an additional pitch somewhere else of equivalent quality within the locality.

“The proposal that is the mitigation in its purest sense is the provision of a pitch at Sue Noake Two. So that’s a like-for-like.

“What we’ve done is above and beyond that and it’s important that members recognise that.”

Mr Edmunds said he had worked with the club to identify additional enhancements to the pitch at Sue Noake One, including a hardstanding barrier around it, emergency vehicle access and changing-room enhancements.

Mr Edmunds said Sue Noake Two is “subject to flooding and there are sewage difficulties”.

“We are putting underneath that pitch some pitch drains as prescribed by an independent pitch specialist,” he said.