NPFA says playing fields ‘attacked from all sides’

The National Playing Fields Association (NPFA) has claimed today that playing fields are being built on at an unprecedented rate, and alleged that the government and its agencies are doing little to reverse the trend.

NPFA figures released today reveal a steady rise in the number of applications for playing field development to 1,325 in the year 2002-2003. The figures also show that playing fields owned by schools and local authorities are most susceptible to built development – that contrasts strongly with the government’s pledge to stop the loss of school playing fields.

Director of the NPFA, Elsa Davies, said: “The figures themselves are disastrous – they show that nothing the government does is working, that its promises have been trampled underfoot in the apparent rush to build on green space.”

Mrs Davies went on to slam the Department of Culture Media and Sport's (DCMS) Playing Fields Monitoring Group, set up in 2001, for being "beset by inertia", adding that the group had only managed to publish figures "once in its lifetime".

She added: “Anyone who believes that this Playing Fields Monitoring Group will make a difference probably believes in the Easter Bunny as well.

“Playing fields are under concerted attack from all sides. What we have here is a government that has lost its way, a monitoring organisation that is falling down on the job, and a host of individuals, schools and other organisations who know only too well that land has significant financial value.”

However, the DCMS has said that it is more difficult to sell off school playing fields since the strengthening of regulations on planning applications in 1998.

The department went further, claiming a reduction in the number of school sites sold since within the past five years.

(MM)