A BARRY-BASED athletics club is furious its activities in the coming months will be hit to make way for the installation of the 3G pitch at Jenner Park - despite being told otherwise by the Vale council.

Barry & Vale Harriers Athletics Club has been told the installation of the 3G pitch is scheduled to take place from Tuesday, August 11 until Friday, October 30 this year.

The Vale Council has advised the club that it will not be able to fully use its athletics facilities in the interim – a move the club says will have a severe impact on its peak summer season training and competition with both track and field affected.

In his correspondence to Athletic club management, Vale Council operational manager, parks and ground maintenance, Phil Beaman said that to deliver the project safely and efficiently, the contractors would have access from Gladstone Road and possession of a secure working area and compound at the southern end of the track.

Mr Beaman stated: “To get to the pitch area there will be protected crossing point for vehicles on the track that will go down at the start of the contract and will not be removed until the contract is complete. This means the full use of the track will not be possible.

“This effectively means the 100m straight can be used for training purposes although it may have to be used running north not using lane one and possibly lane two. You will not be able to use the full track, javelin area or hammer cage. The contractors security fencing will be in lane one which may compromise the use of lane two.

“I fully understand that this will affect the way you operate during the construction period and apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you, your members or your club.”

He added that he would be happy to meet them at Jenner Park to discuss the use of the track during the construction period.

The club said the process had been flawed, it was now faced with a 600 per cent increase in rent and it questioned why almost £800,000 of tax payers’ money, the majority to be spent on the pitch, was going ahead.

A Barry & Vale Harriers Athletics Club spokesman said: “Yet again the Vale of Glamorgan Council has done exactly as they please, in spite of saying otherwise. The installation will take place right in the middle of our athletics competition season when our young athletes are training for track and field events to take part in competitions across South Wales and England. This timing appears to be to prevent the least disruption to the Barry Town United FC season. We are also hugely disappointed that the Vale Council, in a time when £25m must be saved from its budget, is spending almost a million pounds of tax-payers money on football.”

Vale Council director of visible services and housing, Miles Punter said: “Whilst we are endeavouring to keep disruption to a minimum, the 3G pitch installation represents a major construction project and some disruption is unfortunately inevitable. When we wrote to the Barry and Vale Harriers we offered a meeting at the stadium to discuss their continued use, but this offer has not to date been taken up.”