The latest news and views from SAPCA
Don Earley of Fields in Trust discusses the conflicting actions of the government towards Britain’s playing fields
A TUG OF WAR? S
ince its formation as the National Playing Fields Association in 1925, Fields in Trust (FIT) has been involved in the protection and improvement of playing fields, play areas and other forms of open space. In its first 85 years of existence, FIT took legal responsibility, and hence guard- ianship, of more than 1,334 sites throughout the United Kingdom, thereby protecting their long-term future. However, fearing that unless we protect Britain’s playing fields they will be lost forever, FIT has seen a further 1464 sites become nominated for protection in the last three years alone.
This enormous increase is entirely a result of The Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge, a celebratory and legacy programme protect- ing facilities for future generations in honour of Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubi- lee and the London Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2012. Public support and recognition for this programme represents not only great appreciation of Her Majesty’s contribution to the life of the nation and the great sporting events of 2012, but also recognition of the importance of protecting our open spaces and the benefits they bring to sport and competi- tion, health, the environment and community cohesion. Concerns about contradictions in government policy however, have been expressed by many.
Cash for play On a positive note, the government’s People Places Play initiative has promised £135m to- wards creating iconic and inspired sports facilities and protecting playing fields. Yet, proposals un- der the draft National Planning Policy Framework
have been seen by many to threaten the sanctity of the green belt and relegate open space pro- vision and protection to the second division of planning priorities. It was with some considerable relief that the published version was sympa- thetically improved in this respect, though in September 2012 both David Cameron and George Osborne were once again stressing the need for more housing and asserting that it was desirable to make it easier to build on the green belt. In addition, the government has
local education authorities. As such, Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act, brought in by the previous Labour government to halt the landslide of playing field disposals, will no longer bind them.
The guidance and independent scrutiny that applies to publicly funded LEA-maintained schools does not apply to publicly-funded acad- emies, for which there is general guidance on disposal of land but no specific guidance on the disposal of playing fields.
Does the government have the will to support sport anD healthy recreation in schools?
also managed to trip itself up on the issue of sport and schools, with a proposed reduction in the funding for School Sports Partnerships and the publication of incorrect data in response to Freedom of Information requests relating to the number of school playing fields being sold off. Whilst the Government claims that playing fields are better protected than ever before, it is amending its standards so that school sports facility provision, which is dependent upon the number on the school roll, will no longer be mandatory. In addition, the number of acad- emies in the secondary school sector has risen so sharply that over 50 per cent of all such schools will soon be academies, independent of
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Government role But all is not yet lost and organisations like Fields in Trust are calling on government to: • Bolster guidance
• Bring academies under the wing of effective protection, including independent expert scrutiny by the School Playing Fields Advisory Panel
• Make the whole process more transparent, publicising recommendations made by the Department’s independent panel and the decisions made by departmental ministers where the Panel’s recommendations are rejected, and the reasons for both the rec- ommendations and rejections The questions are simple: does the gov- ernment have the will to support sport and healthy recreation in schools? Will school play- ing fields be protected where they are needed? Or will they fall under the axe during this pe- riod of austerity? If it’s a tug of war, let’s hope that playing fields are on the winning side! Earley is deputy CEO of Fields in Trust. To see his full seminar (Planning Policy – A Threat to Outdoor Sports Facilities?) visit SAPCA’s technical guidance page at
www.sapca.org.uk.
Issue 4 2012 © cybertrek 2012
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