Aberystwyth Town Football Club have been given the green light to build a new club house, turnstile, changing rooms, business unit, and improvements to the existing seated and standing terracesRobert Harries Senior Reporter, Bruce Sinclair and Local Democracy Reporter
08:31, 18 Aug 2025Updated 08:35, 18 Aug 2025
Aberystwyth Football Club’s Park Avenue Stadium(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
Proposals to transform the home ground of one of Wales’ most historic football clubs – featuring a new 310-capacity stand – have received the green light.
During last week’s session of Ceredigion Council’s development management committee, councillors backed Aberystwyth Town Football Club’s application to overhaul its Park Avenue Stadium facilities, which have served as the team’s headquarters since 1907. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.
Documentation from representatives JMS Planning and Development outlined that the scheme required “full planning permission for the demolition of the existing main stand and the creation of a new clubhouse, turnstile, changing rooms, business unit and improvements to the existing seated and standing terraces which will include new roof canopies and all associated works”.
The submission continued: “Aberystwyth Town Football Club is proudly one of the oldest football clubs in Wales, whereby the club was founded some 140 years ago in 1884.
“The club is one of the founding members of what is now known as the ‘Cymru Premier’, of which it is only one of two teams to have never been relegated since its inception in 1992.
“The men’s senior team is loyally backed by the local community and has seen a surge in attendance over the past few years, with nearly 6,000 spectators turning up annually for the men’s team alone.”
(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
A number of Cymru Premier matches are broadcast live from the ground each season on S4C and streamed online to a global audience. The Football Association of Wales recently unveiled a new structure and strategy for the league aimed at enhancing its commercial profile, competitiveness, and fan interest both nationally and internationally.
“As a Premier European Division, clubs are given the chance to qualify for UEFA competitions and compete across Europe, making it crucial that facilities and infrastructure across the country are developed to meet UEFA Licensing requirements.”
It mentions Aberystwyth Town Football Club “is often referred to as ‘home’ by several other teams in the region which depend on the club’s facilities and all-weather pitch for training sessions and matches”.
The scheme itself represents the first phase of development, with the second phase pertaining to residential development.
An official told councillors at the August meeting that Natural Resources Wales had raised concerns about flooding, with a Flood Consequence Assessment provided alongside the application “which failed to demonstrate the potential risks and consequences of flooding were manageable,” with NRW recommending that additional information from the applicant regarding flood risk should be obtained.
Committee members were informed that the applicants, mainly because of expenses for additional modelling, wanted the proposal to be assessed on its existing merits.
The report stated that, whilst the NRW concerns were recognised, planning officers believed the current proposal could be backed from a flooding standpoint, determining: “The application represents an opportunity to improve facilities at the football ground to enable high level matches to be played in Aberystwyth to the benefit of not only the immediate community but on a county-wide basis also.
“Despite the objection from NRW on flooding grounds it is the opinion that the scheme can be supported.”
The application received unanimous approval from committee members.
(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)