Contribution
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Moynihan. I will speak to Amendment 165, to which I have added my name. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Addington, for bringing forward this amendment, which addresses the important issue of preserving our playing fields and pitches from potential changes to the planning process.
I wholeheartedly agree with everything that has been said, and which does not need repeating. The startling statistics mentioned speak for themselves. I just want to add a few comments, some of which are from organisations on the front line. As someone who has been involved in the youth justice and sport sectors for many years, and who is presently a co-chair of both the APPG for Sport and Physical Activity and the APPG for Sport and Physical Activity in the Criminal Justice System, I have seen and heard first-hand how access to playing fields and green spaces can transform lives. They are more than just open spaces; they are gateways to better health and stronger communities.
Sport and physical activity have a huge impact on the nation’s health and well-being, as my noble friend Lord Moynihan just mentioned, not to mention all the positives that children and young people receive from an active and regular sports lifestyle, which many will carry into their adult lives. Protecting our playing fields and facilities is therefore crucial, because once they are lost, they are gone for ever.
We have heard of the many risks involved in the recent announcement of the withdrawal of Sport England’s role as a statutory consultee on planning applications. It has an impressive record of protecting more than 1,000 playing fields across the country between 2022 and 2023 alone. Removing Sports England from the planning process will leave a huge hole.
Earlier this year, Alex Welsh, the CEO of the London Playing Fields Foundation, eloquently explained that making such a move would be a huge loss. He said that:
“When a local group are worried about losing the field at the end of the road … They call us and we start by saying, ‘Do Sport England know?’”
He also stated that:
“Over the past five years, out of 398 concluded planning applications, 90% have resulted in improved or safeguarded conditions because of Sport England. What we can’t quantify is how many people are put off from blatant building on fields because they are in that role. Who will be doing it when they are gone?”
Railroading through planning will certainly see many of our sports fields vanish. Fields in Trust, which my noble friend Lord Moynihan also mentioned, is an organisation that protects 3,000 local parks, playgrounds, playing fields and green spaces across the country. It is constantly being contacted by local community groups and individuals who are concerned about the potential loss of their park or playing field and who are having to navigate a complex planning system to make their concerns heard.
We have also learned from recent research published by the journal Cities & Health, which found that planners were prioritising the approval of new homes ahead of outdoor play spaces due to a combination of policy misalignment, financial constraints and pressures stemming from a lack of housing. We can have both; it should not be one or the other.
When I was chair of StreetGames, a national charity delivering sport into disadvantaged neighbourhoods, we saw how important it is to have local and community-based facilities that are accessible for all. If we want to tackle inequalities, making access to facilities more challenging will make it more difficult for everyone to be active and healthy, which will only be compounded for those with less.
The noble Lords and Baronesses here today who are involved in sport feel very passionately about ensuring that we protect our precious sports fields and pitches, so I hope their protection can be preserved in the Bill.