OVERHEAD electric cables running above a Gwent sportsground have finally been removed following a phenomenal fundraising campaign to get the work done.
The cables – which have been a constant burden to Ponthir Sports and Community Club – came down at the Oaklands sportsground on Tuesday, April 5 and will now be rerouted underground.
The club’s longest serving member Brian Holcombe and his son Mike – who is the Grounds Director at the sportsground – ceremonially cut the cables, alongside representatives from Western Power Distribution.
It follows a fundraising campaign that saw the sports club reach the required £21,000 it needed to get the cables rerouted underground.
What’s more, the club also smashed its £35,000 target it needed to receive match funding from Sports Wales, which will go towards extending the facilities on offer at the sportsground.
Western Power Distribution had planned to start the work at the end of February, however bad weather caused by Storm Eunice meant the job had to be postponed.
“We’ve waited a long time for this,” Club secretary John Parfitt said.
“To look at the ground now – with no poles or cables, it just looks absolutely fantastic up there.
“A lot of money has been spent to get this job done so we’re really thrilled with the outcome.”
There were fears that the club, near Caerleon, would struggle to survive if it wasn’t able to bury the cables looming over the green space.
“It is the only accessible green space between Caerleon and Cwmbran and is about five or six acres across,” Mr Parfitt added.
“We’ve got between 12 and 18 thousand square metres of land that we’re unable to use because of the cables.”
He previously told the Argus that the club is planning to have three football pitches, two of which will meet the Welsh FA’s standards once the cables had been buried and also a cricket pitch that could be used all-season round.
They are also planning a multi-use-games-area (MUGA) and four new changing rooms, which will include an accessible changing rooms, and ones for women and girls.
A major rewilding project is also on the cards for the Oaklands sportsground.
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