TWO Weston sports clubs have applied for planning permission to increase the size of their clubhouses.

Hornets Rugby Football Club and Ashcombe Park Bowling Club both want to build extensions to their current facilities as their memberships continue to grow.

The rugby club, in Hutton Moor Road, has 18 teams and vice chairman Paul Matthews said the current clubhouse, which has been in use since 1984, is no longer big enough.

He said: “Over a normal weekend we provide playing facilities for about 250 people and have effectively outgrown our existing facilities.

“We regularly host sporting events for local schools and are currently arranging for a girls’ seven-a-side competition to be held during the summer.”

The Hornets want to build an extension to the eastern side of the clubhouse. It will provide two new changing rooms, showers, toilets and a storage room.

The current changing rooms will also be improved with separate facilities provided for officials and a gym for weight training.

The increasing prominence of the women’s game has also presented logistical problems that need addressing.

Mr Matthews added: “As the demand for playing facilities has increased, there is a need to provide not only increased changing facilities of a better quality but to enable segregated changing and shower facilities for both mixed sex players and officials of all ages.”

The expansion will be funded by club members’ donations and a grant from the Rugby Football Foundation.

In a letter written to planning officials at North Somerset Council, Mr Matthews said a larger clubhouse will benefit the wider community as it is used by non-rugby organisations including the Brandon Trust and WeightWatchers.

The bowls club in Milton Road has similarly submitted a planning application this week as it wants to build a single-storey extension to its existing clubhouse.

Both applications will be considered by North Somerset Council in the coming weeks.