On Monday 13th November, Jonathan Fearn, Carmarthenshire County Council Head of Property, indicated to the Town Council that the agreed asset transfer of Penygaer Playing Fields would have to be put on hold pending the result of the Public Inquiry into the village green application for Llanerch Playing Fields.
The legal advice he had received was for the services of the Town Council to be withdrawn during this period with sole responsibility for Penygaer therefore reverting to the County Council. In order to protect the current arrangement a meeting took place last week between officers of both councils where it was agreed that the Town Council would continue to provide the ground maintenance at Penygaer and would move forward with these arrangement as if the transfer had taken place as originally planned on 1st April 2017.
The County Council will re-imburse the Town Council for the grounds maintenance work costs, these will be deducted from the maintenance grant that would have been received by the Town Council on completion of the asset transfer. The football and rugby clubs will continue to pay the cost of pitch marking and will start paying for the electricity and water usage at both changing rooms as previously agreed.
The County Council will continue to be responsible for both changing rooms in respect of repairs etc along with litter picking of the entire area. These costs will also be deducted from the maintenance grant since the Town Council would have been responsible for the expenditure if the asset transfer had taken place.
The Leader of the Council, Cllr. Mrs. Jan Williams said ‘The users of Penygaer will not see any change to current arrangements during this period of delay prior to asset transfer being completed.’
Colin Jenkins of the Penygaer Management Committee said ‘The Penygaer Management Committee would like to thank the Llanelli Town Council and its contractor Llanelli Rural Council for maintaining the high standards in regard to the playing conditions and pitch markings on Penygaer since the start of this season.
This high standard has attracted teams from outside the Llanelli area who wish to use Penygaer for Mini, Junior & Senior Football. On some occasions, due to the demand, we have had to stagger kick off times to accommodate all teams that wish to use the facilities at Penygaer. This arrangement is one that the PMC wish to have continue long after the Llanerch issue has been resolved’.
The Town Mayor, Cllr. Jeff Edmunds said ‘The Town Council will continue to provide improved playing facilities at Penygaer and engage with the primary users, the Penygaer Management Committee, to ensure the future of Penygaer Playing Fields.’
