Protection of playing fields is key to improving our economy and health
Planning reforms could affect our community playing fields. Ensuring their protection will improve our economy, help us lead active lives, and protect vital green spaces for children.
After nearly seven years as Chief Executive at Sport England, the publication of this article coincides with my final day. Everyone seeks to promote their legacy at a time like this, and I’m no exception.
Adult activity levels are at a record high; our place-based partnerships are starting to tackle the significant inequalities in physical activity provision in some of the nation’s most deprived areas; over three million more women are active thanks to our This Girl Can campaign; and over 2500 National Lottery Grants a year are issued to sports clubs and community groups up and down the country to sustain and grow the grassroots activity that is part of our nation’s fabric.
Lots to be proud of. But there are also some areas that I know remain outstanding and will be for my successor to tackle. Including the resolution of proposed planning reforms and the impact this may have on playing fields.
Since 1996, Sport England has been a statutory consultee on planning applications relating to playing fields. Prior to this, national planning policy was not doing enough to protect them, with many lost forever to development. This statutory consultee role is now under review as the government seeks to streamline the planning process in a bid to boost economic growth.
I should say straightaway - I both understand and fully support the need to stimulate growth and the economy. And I can see how the way major national infrastructure projects, and the much-needed building of new and affordable housing, can be stymied by unnecessary levels of bureaucracy. It’s right to look at where improvements can be made.
But any change needs to make sure we don’t also threaten benefits that also make significant contributions to growth. I believe you cannot have wealth without health, because healthy lifestyles are vital for a healthy economy. Every £1 invested in community sport and physical activity generates over £4 for the economy and society. Active lifestyles prevent over 3 million cases of chronic illness a year – including depression, diabetes and dementia, the UK’s leading cause of death – and save £10.5 billion annually for the health and care system, relieving pressure on the NHS.
Our community sporting facilities and playing fields have a vital role here. Playing fields are not just grassy patches of land; they are community hubs, spaces for physical, mental and social connection – for exercise, friendship, and health. There are few environments in our often age-segregated society that people of all ages can come together – but playing fields are one of them. Walkers, joggers, outdoor yoga, adult 5-a-side, children’s football and cricket – it all happens there.
In fact, children’s health (and therefore, the future health and wealth of the nation) must be carefully considered. We know government understands the critical importance of a child’s early years; the recent investment into new family hubs is testament to that. Building lifelong healthy habits must start young; healthy active children are more likely to become healthy active adults, with all the long-term social and economic benefits that brings.
A future significant loss of playing fields would undermine this, reducing opportunities for children to get active. With rising levels of childhood poverty and increasing obesity, access to green spaces feels ever more important. So it’s vital that we protect them and don’t inadvertently make it easier for them to be lost to development.
That is where our statutory role currently comes in. To those that claim Sport England’s input into the planning process is a blocker to progress – it is not. We respond to over 98 per cent of applications within 21 days, and in 70 per cent of statutory applications we don’t object at all.
But what we have done, over the past two decades, is protect an average of 1000 playing fields a year. And that means that we have protected hundreds of thousands of football matches; hundreds of thousands of school sports days; hundreds of thousands of walks, jogs and runs; hundreds of thousands of community connections; and hundreds of thousands of play opportunities for children.
The danger is in changes now that revert back in large part to the setup that was in place pre-1996, relying solely on national planning policy to advocate for playing fields. History tells us this does not work. Without a specialist agency or statutory function, there would be no meaningful backstop to protect playing fields and prevent them being lost forever.
So as we seek to move forward as a nation and get behind the mission for growth - and seek to make changes to the existing planning environment – I would implore those making the decisions to keep one thing front of mind. Make sure we protect our playing fields; because that way we protect too the future health and wealth of our country.
