Newtown football club unveils artificial pitch plan

Newtown's new pitch may also host home games for Aberystwyth who are rebuilding their own stadium

Plans for a new artificial pitch costing £440,000 have been unveiled by a Welsh Premier League football club.

The proposals for Newtown AFC's Latham Park ground come a few weeks after rivals Aberystwyth Town announced a £13m stadium expansion.

Newtown, who are known as the Robins, will become the second Welsh Premier club after The New Saints to install an artificial surface.

The new pitch is set to be laid in time for the start of next season.

Aberystwyth also plans to lay an artificial pitch as part of proposals announced last month and the team could play its home games at Latham Park in Newtown while its own Park Avenue ground is transformed.

Work to lay the new surface in Newtown will begin in the summer with £333,000 of the total funding coming from the Football Association of Wales (FAW), while Sport Wales will invest its maximum development grant of £50,000.

Newtown chairman Elwyn Preece said: "It has been great for the club and a lot of hard work has gone into the project. It's been a long time coming and I am thrilled to be able to see this coming to Newtown."

FAW president Trefor Lloyd-Hughes said the development would enhance the facilities at Latham Park.

Newtown AFC's secretary Owen Durbridge added: "We want to extend the schools and community programme we have been running for the past year and will be inviting schools to come to use the facility during the day when they will also have the option to have coached sessions.

"The new surface will suit our first team as well and the problems of the past few weeks, with its atrocious weather, will be a thing of the past for us."