A DENBIGHSHIRE Football Club has had to move out of its long-serving home ground due to 'several areas of concern' over the site being raised by the town council.

Corwen Football Club has been playing at the War Memorial Park for the last 40 years.

However, issues outlined by Corwen Town Council - who are the charity trustee for the site - has led to the football club being unable to use it to the full extent.

The club currently competes in the tier three Lock Stock Ardal North East League and Football Association of Wales (FAW) criteria for that division states that a club's home ground must be equipped with 'a dressing room for each team with a minimum of four showers, seating room for at least 18 people and exclusive use'.

But, at this moment in time, access to the showers on site has been restricted by the town council who are carrying work out on site including 'essential work to the water system'.

As a result, Corwen FC will now move 12 miles out of town to Bala Town's Maes Tegid ground to play out its next seven fixtures whilst officials 'consider its future'.

A statement from Corwen FC issued on Wednesday, September 15, read: "It is with great regret that after over 40 years of Corwen Football Club recognising The Corwen War Memorial Park as its home ground, we can no longer host games at the park.

"Despite our best endeavours to reach accommodation with the War Memorial Park/Town Council, the new restricted facilities that are now offered to the club fail to meet the FAW standards.

"As such the team will play its next seven home games at Maes Tegid, the home of Bala Town FC to give time for the club to consider its future. We deeply regret this decision and the loss of an amenity to the town."

Corwen Town Council insist they still want the football club, as well as the other sports clubs involved there, to keep playing home matches at War Memorial Park, but 'not until the issues are addressed'.

A statement from them added: "The financial position for the War Memorial Park Recreation Committee was not improved by the COVID-19 pandemic and the town council had to step in to ensure that the park continued to be available for public use.

"As part of this process the council had to review arrangements for managing the park and it found that there were several areas of concern. The accounts for the Recreation Committee had not been prepared for two years, various safety inspections had not been undertaken and the pavilion was in need of essential work.

"These works included essential work to the water system which had, for the first time, been assessed in relation to the risk of legionella.

"The War Memorial Park itself is registered as a charity and until recently the War Memorial Park Recreation Committee had been preparing its own accounts and submitting these to the Charity Commission as if it were the charity. There was also a 99 year lease between the council and the War Memorial Park Recreation Committee dating from 1995 and it was believed that this was the key document setting out the responsibilities of the council and the committee.

"Unfortunately, as the council learned after taking legal advice, the above position was not correct. Although the Charity Commission had clarified the legal status of the park back in 2004 and had advised that the 99 year lease was void and could have no legal effect, these matters appear to have been overlooked. The council employed specialist legal advisers to review the current position and they have confirmed that the council is, and always has been, the sole Charity Trustee for the park and is legally responsible for it.

"In addition to ensuring that the park and pavilion are safe to use and sorting out the legal position, the council also commissioned an independent review of costs of managing the park in the future. It was obvious from the physical condition of the pavilion that very little maintenance had been undertaken since the building was constructed in 1996.

"Additionally the shortage of funding and over-reliance on volunteers has had an impact on the quality and extent of work and inspections to ensure that the park is safe to use. This is not a criticism of the dedicated and well-meaning volunteers that gave lots of their time to manage the park in the past.

"The review concluded that more money was required to run the park and ensure that the pavilion was safe to use in the long term, not just before it is open again for public use.

"The council is now the default manager of the park so it is making practical decisions on operational matters each day. It does however have a big decision to take in the future – whether to continue managing the park itself or whether it should contract with another organisation to manage the park on its behalf.

"Whatever option is chosen, there will still be a need for additional money to be invested in the park – to ensure it is managed professionally and to address the lack of repairs and maintenance it and the pavilion in particular, has suffered over the past 25 years. It is therefore likely that there will be an increase in the Town Council Precept – the share of Council Tax that is locally determined.

"The council appreciates that some members of sports clubs who use the park may not have been party to all of the above information. We are sorry that we could not disclose more about what has been happening until now but in the coming weeks there is going to be an opportunity for all residents to contribute to the long term success of the War Memorial Park."

Even EFL Championship footballer Harry Wilson, who grew up in Corwen, has had his say on the matter.

The Fulham and Wales star, 24, Tweeted: "It is sad to hear that my home town club @CorwenFC have been forced to move their games away from ‘the rec’ due to matters beyond their control.

“I have regularly enjoyed going to watch the team play there throughout my life and I hope it isn’t too long until I can do so again.”

A petition set up by former Corwen FC manager Nicky Jones to reverse this decision also gathered the 500 signatures it needed just over 24 hours of it having been set up.

To sign the petition, visit: www.change.org/p/corwen-town-council-to-bring-corwen-football-club-back-to-corwen-memorial-park