COUNCILLORS have hit out at Aberystwyth Town Football Club after it applied for a £5,000 grant to be able to reduce the brightness of its floodlights following complaints by nearby residents.

It was revealed during a full meeting of Aberystwyth Town Council last week that the football club had sent in a grant application asking councillors for £5,000, the maximum grant the council is able to give.

The lights are switched on regularly so that football teams and members of the community can use the pitch at night, but the club fears it may have to switch them off permanently because of complaints.

But councillors said it was “wrong” of the football club to expect taxpayers to pick up the tab for any modifications required to dim the floodlights.

Cllr Aled Davies asked: “Shouldn’t they have thought about this before They must have done at other football stadia, and considering the position of the football club in such a residential area, you would have thought they would have factored it in.”

Tony Bates, chairman of Aberystwyth Town Football Club, said: “While, of course, the club respects the negative comments made by some councillors, I do hope that other councillors were in support of the club’s application."

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