Earlier this month, NEWI Cefn Druids received planning permission from Wrexham County Borough Council to build a new, 3000 capacity stadium at the area known as The Rocks in the adjacent village of Rhosymedre, with Tesco building a store on the land vacated at their current Plaskynaston Lane home. The deal will mean The Anicents are able to clear their debts and have a stadium meeting the proposed new 'Super10' ground criteria in time for the 2010-11 season.

However, a small group of local residents opposing the arrival of the supermarket chain in the village have decided to set up a group 'No2Tesco' attempting to stop the development. Despite the campaign focus being the opposition to the supermarket, their plans to scupper the development involve claiming the area of The Rocks as a 'village green' area.

This is a move that has angered Druids' supporters and Chairman, Brian Mackie, alike, who states in a recent letter to the Wrexham Evening Leader, that there is already more than adequate 'green' areas across the village, and that the majority of people in Cefn want a new stadium and Tesco.

The opposition group, led by Jackie Palmer, are now planning an organised picnic on the site of the new stadium, despite this area having already been fenced off in preperation for the commencing of work next month. The group currently claim to have found 40 local residents who support the campaign for 'village green' status, out of the surrounding population of over 8000 residents.

It should also be noted that the village of Rhosymedre has already had a supermarket in the shape of Somerfield for many years. I do wonder how many of the protestors shop there on a regular basis! Whilst not personally being a big fan of supermarkets, I do believe in people having the right to choose where they want to spend their hard-earned money. In a village where hundreds of jobs have been lost in recent years due to the closure of the Flexsys factory, the creation of 140 jobs should not be overlooked.

Meanwhile, just a few miles south-east on the other side of the border, TNS are also facing a battle with local residents over their ambitious plans to install 3000 seats at Park Hall.

This time the issue is parking, or a complete lack of it. The Park Hall car park has a capacity of 96 places, and local residents claim this is already insufficient, resulting in cars parking along grass verges.

The Saints, however, argue that they have plans in place to deal with the congestion and are to set up a 'Park and Ride' scheme to the ground on matchdays.

If permission is granted, The New Saints will become the first Welsh Premier club to fully meet UEFA's ground criteria for staging European matches at every stage of the competition.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon