THE Bryn y Cwm area committee have agreed to grant the Gilwern Eagles Community Association £5,000 to provide for a new scooter arena for local children.

The organisation was set up in 2004 to provide better facilities in the village for youngsters so that the area is a safer and more cohesive community.

The proposed new scooter arena makes use of the redundant tennis court and is estimated to cost in the region of £22,000 to complete.

Councillor Giles Howard said: "What has been achieved in the community already has been done in partnership with the youngsters themselves and local residents. We've created a youth shelter and a bike track and most of the physical work, except for the specialised bike track preparation work has been undertaken by us. Pupils from the local school and a team from Keep Wales Tidy have helped enormously by helping with the clearance and tree planting of the area.

"We would now like to provide a scooter arena, as they are now extremely popular and widespread. Not only would this project benefit youngsters of all ages, it will, from a safety aspect, offer an alternative to playing on the road or footways.

"The association has been studying the feasibility of providing this for some months as the use of scooter has become very popular. They are reasonably priced and therefore very accessible and it's not an item many children don't have.

"Scooters also have the benefit of requiring physical effort and therefore are a health benefit, and we wish to encourage this. an additional benefit is that it will encourage activity away from roads where the traffic calming speed ramps have been placed as these provide an excellent ramp for scooters."

The area will be placed on land that had been used as a tennis court in the past and is owned by the community council, which is supporting the scheme financially.

The whole project has been estimated at £22,000 and the Eagles have been holding fundraising events to secure their share of the match-funding requirements. The major cost is the purchase of the specialist ramps made from recycled polymer and is hard-wearing, fireproof and maintenance free.

Councillor Simon Howarth said: "The children have already moved onto the site by using their own home built ramps and other obstacles.

Councillor Howard said: "The Eagles don't expect all the equipment at once, it will be an ongoing project that can be added to or rearranged as the users see fit."

He added: "It wouldn't be a burden on neighbours as the area has been established a long time as a park and it is well screened from view."