AMMANFORD cricket club members are set to rekindle a row with the town’s players after submitting an appeal to the Welsh Assembly to overturn the decision by county planners earlier this year who refused an application to replace a tennis court with two cricket nets in the town park.

The refusal back in January came as a bitter blow for cricketers who maintained such facilities were crucial to the development of the club.

The controversial proposal sparked a war of words in the town and led to the creation of a 400-name petition from local residents who opposed the loss of one of the four courts.

The issue was all the more controversial as the land on which the tennis courts are built was donated to the park by Ammanford Miners Welfare in 1947.

But the cricket club has now appealed to the Assembly and called on Cardiff Bay officials to revisit the council’s decision to refuse their application for conversion.

During the January debate at County Hall, members of Carmarthenshire county council’s planning committee rejected the guidance of their own officers and voted 9-7 to oppose the scheme.

Council officers said they felt the planned move did not constitute a loss of recreational space as one sporting facility would be replaced with another.

However, Councillor Anthony Jones insisted the tennis courts were used more than its cricket facilities and the petition indicated the strength of feeling within the community. The cricket club has lodged their appeal, claiming the council’s decision that the move would lead to the loss of a recreational facility was incorrect.

Following the decision the Guardian published an open letter from cricket club committee members, players and supporters, expressing their “devastation” over the decision.

The application was submitted on October 7, and will be decided on the basis of an exchange of written statements by the parties and a site visit by an inspector.