Football Club Seeks To Lease Queensway Playing Fields To Build Stand

A football club is seeking permission to take a ten year lease on an area of playing fields in Queensway in order to build a covered spectator stand and hard standing area.

The Venture Community Football Club currently uses part of the playing fields, known as the Dunks, and has applied for grant funding towards improving the facilities available.

The proposed works are a requirement for entry into the Cymru Alliance which requires the addition of spectator facilities with seating capacity for 50 people and hard standing for 50 people.

The Venture CFC is currently in the Welsh National Premier Division but is hoping to progress into the Cymru Alliance.

The proposal also includes the construction of a footpath from the existing car park at Queensway Stadium to the pitch.

Planning permission has already been granted for the construction of the spectator stand, pedestrian hard stand and footpath at the Dunks back in March.

However, one obstacle the proposals will need to overcome is to alleviate the concerns of the council’s Head of Housing and Public Protection who questioned the stability of the ground upon which the stand would be situated.

Any lease agreement would therefore include the requirement for the Venture CFC to appoint a suitability qualified structural engineer to undertake a survey and submit this together with all drawings to the council for examination and approval prior to any construction taking place on the site.

The club would also be responsible for all costs associated with the construction, including surveys, ongoing maintenance and all insurance liabilities for the stand and footpath as well as lease costs.

As the land at the Dunks was originally acquired for housing purposes Wrexham Council would have to apply to the Welsh Government for approval to dispose of the land for the development of a football stand.

In January we reported how Wrexham Council’s executive board was considering offering their football pitches for lease to sporting clubs in the Wrexham area.

Wrexham Council considers requests from sports clubs for leasing of playing fields/facilities on an individual basis and one of the criteria for consideration is the requirements of the league that the club is in.

In recent years the authority has seen an increase in interest from football club’s wishing to take out such a lease as the FAW’s pitch standards become increasingly stringent.

The proposals for the Dunks will go before the authority at a full council meeting on Monday.