A victory for The Spider Park

Following on from my earlier piece 'When is a playing field not a playing field' I am delighted that after months of arguing the case with Wrexham Planning Officers that the whole of Rhosnesni playing field (the spider park) is a playing field, Wrexham planning have conceded and have now given the field its correct definition of 'playing field'

This is an important step due to two attempts to build on part of it in the last five years, now that Rhosnesni playing field is officially a playing field, it will be very difficult for any future developer to build on it because it will make the current deficit of playing fields that exist in Acton even greater...a small victory perhaps in planning terms, but a huge one for the people of Acton community.

Let's hope its correct this time!

After the huge mistake made by Wrexhanm Planning in the interpretation of Fields in Trusts new benchmark standards of play provision, we are promised that a new open space survey will be undertaken using the correct figures...let's hope they get it right this time!

Support Fields in Trust Cymru

I am dismayed to hear that due to the credit crunch, the only Welsh branch of Fields in Trust situated in Cardiff is under threat of closure.

Fields in Trust Cymru have done so much work for Wales over the past decade and they have helped me in so many ways during the many playing field campaigns that I have been involved with, we need to keep the Welsh Branch open.

I am now campaigning to get the Welsh Assembly to fund Fit Cymru as the Scottish parliament does for Fit Scotland.

I have contacted local Assembly Ministers to enlist their support and I hope that they will support such a worthy cause...watch this space, I will update the situation as it unfolds.

Playing field saved!

I attended a public meeting concerning an attempt to build a Medical Centre on Penygelli playing field in Coedpoeth.

Local people were not pleased about the prospect of their local playing field being redeveloped and they made sure that the Community Council listened to their concerns. Several other sites had been considered but the locals were told by members of the Community Council that the other sites were not suitable and that the preferred site was Penygelli playing field.

I had been invited to the meeting and I pointed out that this field should not have even been considered as a suitable site due to the fact that it was protected with Owain Glyndwr status.( Someone certainly had not done their homework)

The matter was put to the vote and the local people voted against it....people power won the day!

When is a playing field not a playing field?

The answer is...when it is owned by Wrexham Council.

Whilst I was looking through the erroneous 2005 Public Open Space Survey of Acton Community I noted an inconsistency. I was puzzled as to why Rhosnesni playing field ( known locally as 'the spider park') had suddenly become a playing field comprised of just two playing pitches?

After contacting Wrexham Planning Department, I was told that only the two pitches had been included as youth/adult playing fields, the rest of the site had been classified as informal open space.

This is yet another error to add to the growing list made by Wrexham Planning. The correct definition of a playing field is " The whole of an area which encompasses at least one marked out pitch" I have contacted the planning department with the request that the whole of Rhosnesni playing field be given its correct classification as a 'playing field'

In truth, it made me wonder if there is a link between this inconsistency (compared with the other fields in the survey) and the fact that Wrexham Council want to redevelop part of the field, and of course, Acton community just happens to have a surplus of informal open space with having Acton Park within the community... hmmm?

I await the response with interest...

Help save The Groves Site

A new campaign group has been set up in order to try to save the former Groves school site from redevelopment.
 

During the course of my investigations regarding the Groves site, it came to my attention that the Open Space Assessment conducted by Wrexham Council in 2005 was totally inaccurate and grossly misleading. When I conducted my own assessment of Acton Community I found that the area had a massive shortfall of approximately 40 acres of youth/adult playing fields. In view of this, I wrote the following to Wrexham Council-

For the Attention of The Executive Board

Dear Members,

As a member of the public and an active playing field campaigner, it has come to my attention that there are several discrepancies in the Open Space Assessment of my community (Acton). Large areas of playing fields which are not available for public use have been included in the assessment; I have highlighted the areas in the yes/no column below.

I would request that Acton Community be reassessed as a matter of urgency in order to have a true an accurate assessment of public open space.

The Youth/Adult playing field assessment of Acton Community is as follows-

Hectares Available to public

1. Bowling Green, Acton Park/Cunliffe Arms 0. 1392 YES

2. Groves High School 2. 2108 NO

3. Borras Park Junior School 1. 5259 NO

4. Rhosnesni High School 6. 2089 NO

5. Dean Road 3. 5272 YES

6. Rhosnesni Lane//Chester Rd (9Acre Field) 3..73 NO

7. Barkers Lane Primary School 0. 8805 NO

8. Bowling green, Gate Hangs High pub 0. 1106 YES

9. Tennis Court, Acton Park 0.1091 YES

10. Football Pitches Rhosnesni lane playing field 0. 62 YES

Total 19. 06

The Groves School. This playing field is not available for public use.

Borras Park Junior School. Having spoken to the Headmaster of the school on 10/10/08, I am informed that the playing fields are not available for public use at any time.

Rhosnesni High School. Having spoken to a member of Rhosnesni High School’s Sport and Leisure Department on 10/10/08, I am informed that the playing fields are not available for public use, with the exception of a small piece of Astro Turf, which is only available for public hire on Saturdays.

Chester Rd, Rhosnesni Lane, 9Acre Field. This field is not available for public use.

Barkers Lane Primary School These “community sporting facilities’ are not available to the general public, they are available only to ‘associations’ as stated in Wrexham Council’s reply to Wrexham A.M. Lesley Griffiths who had made enquiries on my behalf. (Copy of letter available upon request)

In view of the above and having personally recalculated the Youth/Adult playing field provision that is currently available for public use in Acton Community, I would urge you to consider the following-

WBCC Assessment-

STANDARD Ha ACTUAL Ha DEFICIT Hectares

21.06 19. 06 - 2 (approx 5 acres)

My Assessment-

STANDARD Ha ACTUAL Ha DEFICIT Hectares

21.06 4.506 - 16.5539 (approx 41 acres)

As you will agree, there is an enormous difference between Wrexham Council’s assessment and my own and I am certain that you will appreciate my concern.

Mr Rhodri Edwards of Fields in Trust has provided the following information as to which areas are excluded in assessing playing field provision. In the definition of play areas to be excluded as part of the Six Acre Standard the following applies-

Section 1.6.9 ”Such facilities in the Educational Sector and those in the ownership of the Defence Estates are specifically excluded unless they are available for public use by written agreement. The informal or unauthorised use of such facilities falls outside of the definition.”

Section 1.6.10 “Outdoor sports facilities, which are not as a matter of policy and practice available for public use, including Her Majesty’s Services, Educational Facilities and professional sports stadia.”

I sincerely hope that you will agree that we need to have an accurate assessment of our playing field provision especially in view of the fact that The Groves School playing field is currently under threat of redevelopment.

I thank you for your kind attention and I look forward to receiving your reply.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs Lynne Hayes

Labour's 187 broken promises on playing field sales

This article in today's Daily Mail exposes Labour's lies about playing fields.

Labour said this in its 1997 election manifesto:

"We will bring the Government's policy of forcing schools to sell off playing fields to an end."

John Prescott said: "It is crucial that we protect our open spaces and playing fields" (24 July 2004)

Gordon Brown said: "For the first time for many years, the number of playing fields is going up again and we have tried to make it very, very difficult to sell off school playing fields." (25 October 2006)

That's unless you're a Labour councillor in Wrexham, where it's still OK to sell school playing fields.

The 'spin' on playing field disposal figures

I remember a couple of years back, when I gasped in astonishment at the TV announcement which stated that in England, only 17 playing fields had been sold off in that particular year, as a member of the National Playing Fields Association, I knew that, in England, there had been over 1000 applications to build on playing fields. However, only the figures of the larger fields that needed approval were published, small pieces of public and school playing fields were not included in the figures.

In England, only fields larger than 0.4 hectares need approval, the smaller fields don’t have the same protection and are not even considered to be playing fields. British playing fields are being nibbled away bit by bit with spin being used to hide the real figures.

This interesting article by Jo Revill and Anushka Asthana published recently in The Guardian explains the situation in England.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/schoolsports/story/0,,2269376,00.html

click on the link to read the whole story. Here is part of the article-

“Despite government promises made over the past decade that playing fields would be carefully protected, at least 187 fields have disappeared. Hundreds of other pieces of school land have also been sold after being classed as too small to be playing fields.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families admitted that Ed Balls, the current education secretary, and his predecessor, Alan Johnson, agreed to 19 sales last year. A further 53 playing fields across England, owned by both schools and local communities, are thought to be under threat.

Since 1998, the government has approved of at least 187 plans to dispose of playing fields - categorised as land that can be used for grass sports pitches. A much greater loss of land has occurred, with 1,331 parcels of land smaller than 0.4 hectares being sold off since 2001, and without needing ministerial approval.”

The REAL reason behind school closures?

For some time now, I have wondered about the real reason why the government is so keen to close down perfectly good schools, you only have to look at the 'Superschools' fiasco in Wrexham to see what can happen when they close schools. Here is an interesting article by Gareth A. Davies in The Daily Telegraph.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/12/26/soscho226.xml


Fields in Trust, formerly the National Playing Fields Association, are stepping up their campaign to save school playing fields and recreational playing areas, with the threat of further sales continuing.

In September 2007, Alison Moore-Gwyn, director of Fields in Trust, warned in The Daily Telegraph that parents of schoolchildren should be vigilant over the Government's 'Building Schools for the Future' programme, which she believed was a double-edged sword where playing-field sales were concerned.

Although Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced extra funding of £100 million for school sport, the 'Building Schools' programme opened up a new threat to playing fields and open spaces. Overall, school sites have enjoyed comparative immunity since 2004, when the rules impacting on their sale were changed.

"The Building Schools for the Future programme could change all that," Moore-Gwyn said. "While this programme, a colossal investment in the nation's schools, is exciting for education, it also means local authorities can have a radical overhaul of their educational provision, closing schools and building new ones. Playing fields on the closing schools lie outside the 2004 rules, so that means thousands of school playing fields suddenly look vulnerable."

In Scotland, the number of public sports pitches has fallen in 2007. In the first quarter alone, there was a loss of 15 pitches, shown by the research from Sportscotland, the national sports agency, who are the statutory consultees on sales.

The total number of pitches lost since 1996 in Scotland is 130. However, Fields in Trust have described the figures as "the tip of the iceberg". Sportscotland said schools had been particularly affected through closures and mergers.

Lynne Hayes, a long-term playing fields campaigner in Wales, insists the situation is no better there. "In Wales, we have no idea just how many playing fields have been lost; there is no legislation in force to monitor the situation. At present, we are pressing the Welsh Assembly to monitor the situation and to tighten the laws that govern the sell-offs."

In England over the last 13 years, according to figures quoted by former sports minister Richard Caborn, nearly 34,000 sports pitches across England have disappeared. Up to October 1998, it was thought that playing fields had been lost at a rate of one day for the past eight years. Many reasons have been given for ongoing playing-field sales, not least that of the rising cost in land sales.

Save Open Spaces Wrexham

Save Open Spaces (SOS) is a campaign group set up to SAVE OPEN SPACES. It was formed by local playing field campaigners and residents in order to save the Nine-Acre Field from housing development in 2003. That was defeated after a long campaign. Now, in 2008, we need to fight once again to save open spaces in Wrexham from developers and politicians.

The spur for this blog has been the vote on April 23 by Labour councillors to vote to sell off the old Groves school playing fields for development.

Save Open Spaces is open to all who are committed to protecting our school playing fields, public playing fields and green spaces for future generations. Wrexham has a deficit of playing areas and we need to safeguard what we've got, for the sake of our children. If we do nothing, there will be nothing but tarmac and concrete in our town.

Conservative AM helps to save small fields

In October 2006, Lisa Francis, Conservative AM, tabled the following proposal. Sadly, Lisa was not re-elected. I corresponded a lot with Lisa, she supported the campaign to save the Nine Acre field, Ponciau Banks fields and the Statement of Opinion to give the under 8's playing space in schools. She worked very hard trying to preserve playing fields throughout Wales, we need AM's like Lisa, she will be greatly missed.

I am delighted that Lisa's motion was agreed because it means that so many smaller playing fields can now be saved. The vote for the motion was very close being 27 for and 26 against, the vote went as follows-

AM's voting FOR the motion-

Plaid Cymru 10

Conservatives 10

Lib/Dem 6

Independent 1

AM's voting AGAINST the motion-

Labour 26

Lisa Francis AM tabled the following Initial Motion (NDM 3186), which was agreed, for Plenary Debate on 4 October 2006:

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, acting under Standing Order 31.2, supports in principle legislation to amend Article 10(2) of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995, to:

(a) extend the definition of a Playing Field to include any land in the open air which is used for the purposes of physical education or recreation; and

(b) revise the definition of a Playing Pitch to remove the minimum size requirement in relation to a delineated area.

Stage 2 SO31 Plenary Debate on 23 January 2007

The Minister for Environment, Planning and Countryside set out a way forward on the issue in his Feasibility Report, as required under Assembly Standing Orders, which was agreed in Plenary on 23 January 2007.

The Feasibility Report recommended the following actions:

A - To amend the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995 to reduce the threshold for local planning authorities to refer planning applications affecting playing fields to the Sports Council for Wales for their consideration, from 0.4 hectares to 0.2 hectares (in line with the consultation document "Changes to the Development Control System").

B - To re-consult on broadening within policy the definition of 'playing fields' on which local planning authorities should consult the Sports Council for Wales on proposed developments affecting land caught by the definition.

C - Consult on introducing a policy requirement for local planning authorities to undertake an Open Space Assessment (currently preparation of such assessments is advisory in the draft TAN 16 Sport Recreation and Open Space).

The Minister is being asked to approve a consultation letter, seeking views on requiring planning authorities to undertake an Open Space Assessment, and a broader planning definition of recreational open space, as set out above.

Plaid AM to introduce proposed play field measure

Plaid Cymru AM granted leave to introduce proposed Measure, 07/02/08

Dai Lloyd, Plaid Cymru AM, has been granted leave by the Assembly to introduce a proposed Measure on the selling off of playing fields. Dr Lloyd won a ballot in December that enabled him as an Assembly Member who is not a member of the Government to introduce a proposed Assembly Measure. He now has six months to draft and introduce the proposed Measure which will seek to place a duty on local authorities to consider the impact that selling any playing fields could have on the communities around them before proceeding with a sale.

This means that local residents, sports clubs etc will now all have their say in the consultation process. This is a great leap forward, at present Local Authorities only have to advertise the proposed sell offs for two weeks in the local press, a flawed system in my opinion, due to the announcments being easily missed if you don't happen to read the local press.

Dai said that he wants to make it more difficult for Local Authorities to sell off playing fields. Hear! Hear! Well done Dai!

The pre-ballot information on the Measure can be found on the National Assembly for Wales website.