A FOOTBALL coach wants Monmouthshire County Council to reconsider plans for a £120,000 skatepark in Abergavenny.

Michael Woodward, of Croesonen Road, Abergavenny says if current plans for a skatepark in Lower Meadow are approved it will deprive youths who use the field to play football.

Mr Woodward has coached the Mardy Junior's under 12s for ten years. He claims the five metres of pitch, which would be taken from the football pitch to accommodate the new park, will seriously affect play.

The current plans for the site at Pen-y-Pound have been approved by Abergavenny Town Council and are going through a consultation period. An estimated cost of £120,000 of funding comes from Monmouthshire Council, Abergavenny Town Council, Community Leisure and Recreation Abergavenny (CLARA) and youths in the area.

Mr Woodward says the loss of five metres means the pitch would only become suitable for under 11s mini football, depriving the under 12s, 13s, 14, and 15s and the Mardy Tigers without a place to play.

"A whopping five metres off a pitch already at the minimum length will render it useless for prestigious regional league matches.

"It would be like telling a pupil that they would have to stay in a primary school with primary equipment for the rest of their studying years," he said. Marion Pearce, a spokesman from CLARA and mother of four said: "I know what kids want, they are bored around here and skating on the streets is dangerous. The park gives them a legitimate place to be, and the football club can be moved to Belgrave Park, a perfect facility."

Eighty-year-old John Williams, who lives opposite the field, says he is worried about anti-social youths using the park.

"I am not against the skaters just the people who will congregate when they have stopped skating in the night."

Mr Woodward says he isn't against the skatepark only it's position. He said: "Everyone in Abergavenny who cares about our children's health should be against this idea. There must be a better place to put a skatepark."