Ambitious plans to build a £6million sports centre of excellence at Ystrad Mynach have been unveiled by the council.
The centre, to be constructed on the site of the old Ystrad Mynach Hospital, will have state-of-the-art all-weather rugby and football pitches, grandstands and floodlights as well as parking for 200 cars. There will also be a gym, changing rooms, sports classrooms and conferencing facilities.
It is hoped the new centre, which the council wants open by 2013, will be used by local sports teams, Ystrad Mynach College and professional sports organisations.
The ambitious proposals by Caerphilly County Borough Council have the backing of the WRU, Newport Gwent Dragon, Cardiff City FC, the Welsh Football Trust.
All of the organisations involved plan to use the centre as a means to reach out and engage with the community through various initiatives.
Speaking at a press conference about the plans on Monday, council leader Allan Pritchard said: “This proposal is right in the heart of the Valleys. I can say openly that quite often you see things go to the M4 corridor.
“This is going to where the supply is – the supply is in the Valleys. If you look at the history of soccer and rugby, the majority of the people who go to the top come from the Valleys area.”
Roger Lewis, chief executive of the WRU, said: “We congratulate and compliment Caerphilly County Borough Council for their ambition and vision with this project.
“It’s particularly timely and catches the Zeitgeist of today, and that is about working together. It’s a pleasure for the Welsh Rugby Union to be sitting alongside our colleagues from Cardiff City and the FAW as well.
“In these changing times, we’ve got to be working together, and we’ve got to be working together for the greater good. This project is an exemplar for how we can work together.”
Most of the funding for the project over the next two years has already been set aside by the council and includes £2.3m the authority got through a Section 106 agreement when Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr was built.
All that remains is a funding gap of £900,000.
Asked where the shortfall was coming from, Cllr Pritchard said the authority, backed by its partners, would be lobbying the Welsh Government for funding.
Despite the WRU not financially backing the project, Mr Lewis gave a commitment for his organisation to also lobby Cardiff Bay for the money.
He added: “What we can bring to Caerphilly is expertise and resources. In addition to that, we can bring some further leverage to unlock money for the project. I will work with Caerphilly to lobby the Welsh Government.”
Next year’s council budget, which includes funding for the sports complex, will be submitted for approval to full council on February 23 2012.
Please tell me why Ystrad Mynach needs all of these new buildings and sites? A hospital, this, the main council buildings? You might as well call it the Ystrad county borough council/
Excelent news that Caerphiily Council are investing in the community. However, why is that they charge local football teams to use council pitches for junior football, whilst in other South Wales council, this is free?
And where exactly are the considerable funds coming from to pay for this "plan".
Why are they not investing this 6 m ( where this came form is another question) into the already existing sports facilities that are in desperate need of modernisation. There is not one swimming pool in the county that is fit for purpose and in need updating. Rugby and Football already get the majority of support withing sport, where is the support for the Caerphilly County Swim Squad, the only competitive swimming club in the county or the water polo team.
Why is this money not being invested in developing the swimming schemes of the county to develop swimmers of the future. Currently David Roberts ( 11 times paralympian gold medalist) trains in the county in the build up to the 2012 games as a member of Caerphilly County Swim Squad, yet we have had no support from the CCBC. Let's get real and have equality for all, not just for the chosen few sports of which there are already decent facilities in the borough.
I have to agree with the above comment, all this investment and junior football clubs have to pay silly money to access pitches and all weather training facilities!
As a coach it is difficult getting young players to join at grass roots level, its even more difficult to then say we want money every week AND a registration fee just to pay for training and matchday facilities throughout a season. Yet as team managers we have to ensure dog mess is cleaned up, any other dangerous objects cleared away before playing. The mid/upper rhymney valley and pontllanfraith now boast several all weather surfaces, The caerphilly basin has only one at Bedwas that charges ridiculous rates to use it! Im all for sporting excellence but for crying out loud sort the problems we have at grass roots level before catering for the 2% who will reach the top!!
Why, when the Caerphilly Council have other priorities of matters of far more significance to the citizens of the borough, are they spending time on this `Project`, plan.
Why not let the Welsh Rugby Union lead it as a project and simply, `smooth the process of planning and other governance issues` to enable it to happen?.
I ask, could it be because, it is at the top of the personal agendas of some elected Councillors of this Authority?
I also note that the Welsh Rugby Union are prepared to spend `absolutely nothing` on the scheme, they will, they say, lobby the Welsh Assembly for even more money from the already under extreme pressure public purse, perhaps they think the Assembly can reduce the Welsh Health Budgets and get the money from there, or perhaps dip into the Welsh education budgets, or, how about taking the money from the subsidised south Wales to North Wales airline service which is only used by Assembly members and their friends, and is ignored by the rest of the Welsh Public. Perhaps The leader of Caerphilly Council,who is clearly delighted with these plans by his Council,and appears to be leading this initiative, which is his preferred option?
What we need is a new Lesiure centre as the one in viginia park is too small, also a proper aquatics centre with 50m pool and diving pit and boards, also could CCBC please accomdate thoses people who's sport is not Rugby or Football Such as Martial arts and Boxing centre.
The new hospital at Ystrad Fawr is far to small. As the population of the valleys increases, we will need a much bigger casualty unit, able to meet all, but the most serious casualties, not a minor injuries unit. A much bigger maternity unit and a hospital which will be able to cope with the needs of our growing numbers. The newest buildings due to be demolished on the old site could be incorporated into an extension of the new hospital. As it stands now the biggest ward in the new hospital is the psychiatric unit at over forty beds ( or so they said in their hand-outs ) and the maternity ward which is a mere seven beds and mid-wife led.
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Ystrad Mynach is in the centre of the valleys, in the centre of a major population of people , yet we have to travel to Cardiff, Newport or Merthyr to get to a major hospital. As we all know not the easiest places to get to by public transport and in an emergency, life threatening.
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I agree that a sports centre and maybe a swimming pool are very important, so are peoples lives. The land now earmarked for the sports centre of excellence should be kept for a hospital extension and a new home found for the sports centre.
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How on Earth is it right that CCBC is willing to build a new sports centre and totally ignore that state of Caerphilly town, which apart from Blackwood is the only town that any outsider would visit. How many years did it take for them the get someone to do up Coco's? Virginia Park is in need of and upgrade, so is the leisure centre. But no Ystrad Mynach is far too important to not have its own police station, hospital, college and stadium. CCBC can get screwed in my opinion, they have a total lack of care for what should be the centre town.
Start again…scrap this silly idea. Get an A&E unit either in Ystrad or Caerphillly. Use the land for affordable housing.
Put the people in charge! The community should have the last word…not the heavy hitters.
This country is a joke…the laughing stock of Europe. Enough said before I start more miffed…have a nice day now!
great to see a multi sports complex being built but then they want to build an athletics track in Caerphilly? it makes no sense it would make sense to of built an athletics track around one of the playing fields and have the track in the centre of the Caerphilly county borough. as it stands building a track in Caerphilly would reduce numbers for a club as your cutting off half of the borough where as ystrad mynach is central to the whole borough from Rhymney right through to risca. does anyone agree?