Anyone happen to know anything about the rules on building on school playing fields?

[edam]

Our county council is planning to build a sports hall for the secondary school next door to ds's primary on the primary school playing fields.

Does anyone know if this contravenes guidance on protecting playing fields? Can they get away with it on the grounds that it's a sports hall (even though it's not for our school)?

Would be very grateful for any inside info! It's a hideous thing, 10m high x 26m wide that will tower over our single-storey school. It will be built directly behind our school, not the high school.

They think they can just replace our playing fields with some boggy land in the very furthest corner of the site, hard up against a public footpath. We aren't happy that is a real replacement for our playing fields...

I don't know the rules but if I remember correctly there is some guidance about how much playing field space there should be for x amount of pupils. You might have to do some sort of googling if someone else can't tell you. Good Luck

Sport England provide advice on whether sufficient playing fields (regulation sizes for different sports) would be available and playing fields can also be protected spaces as allocated by local planning authorities. If they are protected spaces, they could still be built on but a strong case as to why that need outweighs the need for it to remain as a playing field would be required.

this should give you a bit more info, make sure that they have consulted sport england as part of the planning process as they are required to before a decision is made.

(fingers crossed this works as it's the 3rd time I've tried to post it! )

As far as I know the regulations for primary schools are based on the amount of physical space required per pupil but these are all fro INDOOR space. There is no requirement regarding outdoor space which is why some primary schools have very little.

I think you will have very little chance of successfully opposing this, particularly if it is supported by the council (who presumably own the land and are in control of the two schools involved?).
The Governing Body of the school should have been consulted / informed so perhaps start looking back over the minutes and find out which governors have the most concerns.

Our County Council built a Childrens' Centre on our playground but they had to give us back the equivalent land ...unfortunately it can be that boggy bit that is no good. Two years on we are trying to get drainage so we can actually use it...

Thanks very much everyone - apologies for not replying earlier, had to go out with ds.

Interesting tip, squashed. And creditcrunched, suspect you may be right, sadly. But worth a try. Irony is I am a governor, although a very new one! First official meeting between us and the council on Weds, no plans actually showing the impact on our school at all, presentation clearly designed for an entirely different reason and less than a week's notice of the so-called 'public consultation' meeting. Which they haven't told our county councillor about, either.

Talk about a stitch up...

Oh and credit, you are right, county own the land and both schools.

ooh, squashed, that sport england guidance is really helpful, thank you!

Something worth doing, if you have a parent who doesn't mind public speaking, is to look on the Council's website for details of how the public can address the Council in its meetings. There will be full council, and various subcommittees. You will probably have a fixed time limit, and may need to specify your question or subject area in advance. Keep it free of mud-slinging! Use the sports england arguments in the speech.

This, coupled with a letter writing campaign from parents, can be quite effective. Basically you need the councillors to understand this might lose them votes. Your MP might be useful, as there is an election in the offing and primary children are sooo photogenic.

DCs school accepted a bulge class for reception this year, and we wanted to kick up a bit of a stink. Ultimately however our chair of governors, about to enter his last year before he retires, is not on for confrontation or challenges with the council, and has no idea how to harness the time and energy of gobby troublemakers articulate parents. The head is great, better at bringing people together than fighting them, which is one of the school's strengths but not much use when a fight is needed. I think what I am saying is you really need a united front to the council, and for a range of reasons we didn't manage it.

Edam, might be worth checking where the council got the land from in the first place - sometimes it has been donated a long time ago by local benefactors with clauses in the transfer preventing it being used for other purposes. Unfortunately this doesn't always prevent councils finding ways around the covenants...

thank you, more great ideas. I think we have lots of parents who can do public speaking, they are all ruddy lawyers or accountants or doctors. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, am just slightly jealous that I didn't think with a middle-aged head when I was choosing a career...)

Just a bit more info for you here it's the new website for what was the National Playing Field Association. They used to have a document called "Six Acre Standards" which you could search for on their website and may also provide you with more info.