A SPORTS club has warned its future is at risk if it's unable to remove overhead electric cables on its recreation ground.

The Ponthir Sports and Community Club, near Caerleon, wants the wires to be rerouted underground to allow it to create more opportunities for sports events and extend its facilities.

It’s hoping to make space for a new pavilion, a multi-use games area and a second football pitch up to Gwent Football League standards.

However, the league has told the club that the proposed area for the pitch, which is under the electric cables, would not meet the required standards unless the overhead wires were removed.

South Wales Argus: These cables would have to be removed if a football pitch is to be built.These cables would have to be removed if a football pitch is to be built.

A Crowdfunder page has since been set up to help the club reach the estimated £35,000 it needs to get the cables fed underground.

The club’s secretary John Parfitt said: “Burying those cables is existential to the future of this club.

“We’ve got between 12 and 18 thousand square metres of land that we’re unable to use because of them.

“We want to build a MUGA (Multi Use Games Area) for the local school to use but we can’t because the only place it can go is taken up by electrical cables.

“They’re not just troublesome for the club, they’re troublesome for the whole village of Ponthir.

“Our football pitch gets waterlogged regularly and because we don’t have a second one, we’ve actually lost a lot of junior clubs to different locations.”

South Wales Argus: The current football pitch gets waterlogged regularly.The current football pitch gets waterlogged regularly.

The green space proved to be a big hit with families during the first lockdown when travel restrictions were in place, and a major rewilding project is also on the cards should the wires get removed.

South Wales Argus: Club Treasurer Anthony Pead (left) and Secretary John Parfitt (right)Club Treasurer Anthony Pead (left) and Secretary John Parfitt (right)

Club treasurer Anthony Pead said: “We were jam-packed here during lockdown because families with young kids had nowhere else to go. I’d say since the lockdowns the popularity of the sports ground has grown massively.

“We’re the only green space between Caerleon and Cwmbran so it’s really important to us that we make it an attractive space as possible to people living here."

Western Power Distribution declined to comment, but talks to approve the plans are thought to be positive.