Football club given permission to move a disused notice board

A Monmouthshire football club has been given permission to move a disused notice board so it can advertise its upcoming fixtures. 

Abergavenny Town FC, who are currently languishing at the bottom of the second tier of Welsh football, hope their battle to stay in the JD Cymru South league can be boosted by increased attendances through better promotion of their home fixtures. 

The club, who drew 1-1 when they visited Gwent rivals and fellow strugglers Abertillery Bluebirds on Boxing Day, plan to raise awareness of their home games by making use of the two-metre high by 2.3-metre wide board that is described as “falling into a state of disrepair and hidden by a large garden fence and some shrubbery”. 

It is currently located at the entrance to the town, from Mardy, at a junction of Hereford Road with Croesonen Parc and owned by Abergavenny Market, which no longer uses the board, and which has given the club permission to move and use it. 

Talks between the football club, Monmouthshire County Council, the Welsh Government and its trunk road agency have been ongoing since October and the council planning department has now agreed the board can be moved to a green area, that isn’t recorded as part of the highway verge, on the junctions of Pen-y-pound, Hereford Road and Avenue Road close to the club’s Pen-y-Pound Stadium. 

As well as advertising the club’s home matches it has been agreed the sign, that will be mounted on two poles, will also be used to promote other community events at the ground and elsewhere in the local area. 

In its application the club said it has held talks with Abergavenny Town Council and stated it has “agreed to include local content, Welsh language etc.” 

County council planner Kate Bingham said in a report: “Although the site is within the Abergavenny Town Conservation Area, the immediate setting is essentially that of the football stadium and an existing traffic light controlled road junction.  

“There are no other signs of this nature on the land and therefore allowing the application sign will not lead to unacceptable clutter or detract from the existing character or appearance of the conservation area. The sign will not be illuminated.” 

The club will have to abide by conditions including advertisements are displayed in a “clean and tidy condition” to the “reasonable satisfaction” of the planning department. 

Abergavenny Town are next in action on Tuesday, January 2, when they host Abertillery at Pen-y-Pound with kick off at 7.30pm.