Larger playing fields will continue to be protected by Sport England oversight / Shutterstock/PeopleImages
Sport England will retain its statutory role in planning decisions affecting England’s playing fields after the government abandoned plans to remove its consultee status.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed the decision following a consultation which generated significant pushback from sports bodies, community groups and the public.
Of the 1,294 respondents who answered the question on removing Sport England’s status, 80 per cent opposed the proposal, while 7 per cent supported it. A separate petition opposing the change attracted 34,281 signatures.
Sport England will consequently continue to be consulted on the most significant applications involving playing fields, including their physical loss for housing or commercial development and substantial sports or school development on playing fields.
Its remit will, however, be reduced, with lower-risk schemes – including pitches below 0.4 hectares, development adjacent to playing fields, ancillary facilities such as pavilions, parking, lighting and storage and some routine school developments – no longer automatically being referred to the organisation.
Sport England currently receives around 1,100 planning referrals a year and the government estimates the changes could reduce that figure by half or more.
The reforms form part of a wider overhaul of England’s planning system intended to speed up housebuilding and infrastructure development while concentrating statutory consultees’ expertise on higher-risk applications.
Sport England chair Chris Boardman welcomed the decision, saying independent expert advice remained vital on the most significant planning decisions because «once a playing field is lost, it is rarely replaced».
The government has also revised its new National Planning Policy Framework following concerns that proposed wording could weaken protection for playing fields.
Sport England will work with government on updated planning guidance for local authorities and will retain a role in the new local plan-making system.
Fields in Trust, which campaigned against the proposed removal of Sport England’s statutory consultee role, also welcomed the decision.
The charity’s president, former England footballer Jill Scott MBE, had led a campaign backed by 87 sporting figures and organisations, including Sir Mo Farah, Alex Yee, Tessa Sanderson, British Cycling, England Netball, the LTA and London Marathon Group.
Taking the campaign to Parliament in March, Scott said: “Grassroots sport needs grass to thrive”, arguing that protecting green spaces was not about standing in the way of housebuilding, but ensuring playing fields were given proper weight in planning decisions.
Helen Griffiths, chief executive of Fields in Trust, said at the time: “The public’s message to policymakers could not be clearer. Green spaces matter”, and called on the government to retain Sport England’s statutory consultee status.
An earlier open letter signed by Scott and Griffiths had warned that “playing fields are irreplaceable. Once built on, they are gone forever”.
Responding to the government’s decision this month, Fields in Trust said it had feared the removal of Sport England’s role would put thousands of playing fields at risk and was pleased the government had recognised the campaigners’ concerns.
However, it warned that the narrowing of Sport England’s remit remained a concern, saying smaller community spaces can be particularly vulnerable because they fall outside independent scrutiny.
Fields in Trust also welcomed the updated National Planning Policy Framework’s explicit recognition of its Standards for open space, outdoor sport and play. It is now calling for the standards to be embedded in national and local planning policy and used as the benchmark for determining whether replacement green space is genuinely equivalent or better.
