Sport England and London Playing Fields Foundation object to Teddington playing fields plan
2:00pm Friday 27th November 2009 in News By Chris Wickham
Two more organisations that lobby against the loss of playing fields have objected to plans to expand a primary school.
Richmond Council submitted an application in July for additional buildings at St Mary’s and St Peter’s CE Primary School, in Teddington, to enlarge the school from two to three forms at entry.
Sport England, a statutory consultee on planning applications that affect playing fields, lodged a formal objection to plans to expand the Somerset Road school, as its policy is to oppose any development which would lead to the loss of a playing field.
Now the London Playing Fields Foundation (LPFF), the leading body for the protection of playing fields in London, and Fields in Trust, the only independent UK-wide organisation dedicated to protecting outdoor sports and play spaces – have both condemned the plans.
The authority is enlarging the school as part of a £32m primary school revamp, and it is due to be ready to re-open as a three-form school in September 2011.
It was reported in February the council would need to get a relaxation from the Government to develop the school, as it would be left with about a quarter of the outdoor space it needed. Parents have also written to the authority to object to the plans.
Don Early, deputy chief executive of Fields in Trust, said: “The proposed relaxation to enable more children to be accommodated is excessive, undesirable and should be refused.”
Jeff Neslen, development manager at the LPFF, said the organisation endorsed the Sport England position.
The expansion plans have been beset with problems. The council claimed it was in touch with Sport England to redesign the scheme but Conal Stewart, planning manager of the organisation, told parents he was not working with the authority “at all” and had seen no new plans.
It has also emerged Richmond Council has offered to pay £600,000 so the Church of England’s London diocese, which has responsibility for the school and should pay 10 per cent of any works bill, does not have to.
Councillor Malcolm Eady, Richmond Council cabinet member for education and children’s services, said earlier this month the authority was reviewing the scheme in response to Sport England’s objection.
A Richmond Council spokesman said all comments to the plan would be taken into account, and a meeting with Sport England had been arranged in the last few days, after delays.
The spokesman added: “As a voluntary aided school, the governing body can be asked to provide up to 10 per cent of funding for a capital development. In this case, as the council is asking the school to provide extra places, it would but unfair and unrealistic to ask them to make such a large contribution to the project.”
