Local Area Referendum (Disposal of School Playing Fields) Bill

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

2nd reading: House of Commons
Friday 22nd January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

On 29 June 2015 when I first introduced this Bill, we were coming up to our great British summer. It is a time when we see increased use of our open spaces for sports such as tennis and—more importantly, in my view—cricket, as well as walking and other activities. The Bill’s Second Reading comes at the start of the new year, when everyone has probably eaten a little too much over Christmas and is motivated to kick the year off by exercising, or perhaps by joining a new club or team—organisations that take pride in using local pitches and playing field facilities. Dare I mention last year’s rugby world cup? Although England did not make the final rounds, many young people were captivated, and the players of tomorrow are now halfway through the rugby union season.

School playing fields are a vital part of local life, and in many cases they bring together communities through their use by local sports teams, as well as by school pupils at breaks, lunchtimes and PE lessons. The Bill will give residents a real say over the future of their local recreational ground—something that currently is explicitly limited to a local authority decision.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

I am sure that we all have a degree of sympathy with the aim of this Bill. My hon. Friend just said that such matters are down to the local authority, but that is not quite the case. There is already a rigorous process, and a whole raft of protocols, hoops and public consultation to go through before the Secretary of State gives their consent for a disposal. In the light of those already strict criteria, does my hon. Friend think that this Bill is a little like overkill?

[Tom Pursglove]

My hon. Friend and I agree on many things but not on that point. The facts speak for themselves. Between 2001 and 2010, there were 242 disposals of school playing field land, and there have been 103 since 2010. I have great confidence in communities making decisions that are right for their area. For example, neighbourhood planning has been a positive step forward because it has allowed local people to determine the vision for their area. There is a lack of confidence in the way that the system currently works, and particularly in the mechanisms that work through the Department for Education, and as I said, a number of playing fields have been disposed of. Ultimately, once those spaces are gone they are gone for good, and I will return to that point later in my remarks.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tom Pursglove]

I will make some progress, but I will come on to the specific issue of replacement later on in my remarks.

At the moment, the Government are being very bold in their commitment to additional housebuilding and the right to buy. Indeed, as the Minister knows, in Northamptonshire—not only in the county, but in my constituency—we are at the forefront when it comes to building new homes. In fact, Corby is the fastest-growing town in the whole country, a clear sign of our strong and stable economy built under a Conservative Government and evidence of the fact that our area has been quite ambitious in grappling with the Government’s agenda and in trying to support housebuilding where we can. I am, however, a very firm believer—in all the time I spent in local government prior to entering this House, I continued to stress this point—that alongside housebuilding there must always be the infrastructure in place to support it. By selling off school playing fields, not only do we lose the space for schools to expand—Education Ministers openly acknowledge the fact that we have far too many landlocked schools, and this is a particular concern to my constituents in Oundle—but with housing growth we inevitably need more open space and greater pitch provision to meet growing local need.

Clearly, land for housing should be chosen carefully and not at the expense of land that exists to serve the local community. As such, the Bill comes at a good time to help to safeguard school playing field land. On a number of occasions since my election in May 2015, I have referenced a local case where Northamptonshire County Council has been working towards selling off part of the playing field at the site of Oundle Primary School. This has been met with huge opposition not only from local residents but from Oundle Town Council and East Northamptonshire Council. Unfortunately, this work is still ongoing, but luckily the local campaign against it continues to sustain its momentum. Indeed, the petition has now received over 4,000 signatories and is still growing—bear in mind that this is a town of 4,500 people. This point comes back to an earlier intervention: there is such overwhelming support for the playing field land not to be sold that it is wrong to ignore that fact through the statutory processes that exist.

I am led to believe that the case will go before the Secretary of State for Education to decide whether this playing field can be sold off. I am in the process of drafting my very strongly worded submission against the sale and I hope the Secretary of State will take it, and the monumental scope of the local campaign, into account when reaching her decision. The playing field continues to be well used by Oundle Primary School. Over the years, many sports clubs have used the land to fulfil weekend fixtures, and weekend and week-night training opportunities for adults and young people. The land will continue to be well used by the local community, as long as it is retained for that particular purpose. There is a real lack of sports provision, pitches and green open space in Oundle for people to get out there and get active. In Northamptonshire, we are already plagued by a situation in which far too many sports teams have to go out of county to fulfil home fixtures. That is very, very wrong. They should be able to play their home games in the vicinity of where they come from.

[Craig Whittaker]

I think there is a bit of confusion here. Prior to 2010, of course, the process my hon. Friend talks about was in place. Since 2010, however, the rules on the disposal of playing fields have been changed. The Secretary of State makes the final decision. He or she will take into account the statutory six-week consultation, four of which have to be in term-time. They will take into account local people’s views and they will say yes to disposing of them only if the sporting needs, not just of the particular school but neighbouring schools, are taken into account.

[Tom Pursglove]

That is a welcome step forward, but I maintain that it does not go far enough. How can it be right that 4,000 residents in a town could be ignored in the system? We have a referendum if council tax is put up above a certain level. I think it makes sense to have a referendum if local people are getting out there, getting motivated and running a well-organised campaign. That should be acknowledged, but I will come back to the detail later.

It is important that I say a huge thank you to Julie Grove and the Oundle recreation and green spaces committee for their efforts in support of the Oundle campaign and to the recently started campaign, through the same auspices, to save Fletton field, which is a hot topic locally. The committee is not only continuing the fight to save Oundle Primary School’s playing field, but turning its attention to Fletton field, which is a community field for which Oundle Town Council has recently submitted an application for village green status. Around the same time, Northamptonshire County Council submitted an application to build 13 houses, with no prior consultation with the community, despite its being a well-used piece of land.

My Bill seeks to improve the consultation with communities when land is up for sale or when that is being considered by a local authority. Presumably, the county council is attempting to attract the best value for this land, which planning permission would help it to achieve, but in doing so it has shown no regard for the village green application. I find that unacceptable. How can it be right that the wishes of the local community can be ridden roughshod over and the land sold against its wishes?

I turn now to another part of my constituency. I was pleased when, at the end of last year, Kings Cliffe Active, a sports and recreation complex set on a 12-acre site in the village of Kings Cliffe, secured a grant of £74,000 from Sport England. The grant will go towards building and maintaining new tennis and netball courts. The case of Kings Cliffe Active demonstrates that grants and support are available for sports provision and that the demand is clearly there, and I was delighted to visit this fantastic sporting facility to discuss its plan just prior to Christmas.

On a national level, I have spoken to many supportive right. hon. and hon. Members from across the House about similar issues in their constituencies. In fact, if one googles “MPs and playing fields”, one will find that many colleagues have championed local cases such as the one I am helping with in Oundle. The evidence is there and plain to see. I have also been contacted by an astounding number of local associations, sports clubs, charities and other organisations wanting to share their experiences and express their support for the Bill. In particular, I would like to thank Meryl Smith, the secretary of the National Playing Fields Association, for her continued help and support.

Interestingly, a national petition has also been set up in support of the Bill asking the Government to do almost exactly the same thing as the Bill seeks to do. This further demonstrates the strength of feeling not just in my area, but across the country. I thank James Allen Hardaker for his work setting up the petition.

I turn to the crux of the Bill. It seeks to build on the localism agenda and the Government’s excellent measures around protecting assets of community value. It would enshrine it in the law that should a public body wish to sell off school playing fields, it must go through a statutory consultation. One of the biggest complaints is that consultation on these sales nationally has been shockingly woeful. I propose, therefore, that should a verifiable percentage of electors in any ward who are specially and directly affected sign a petition, it would trigger a local referendum, the result of which would be binding for up to 10 years. Essentially, this would provide a genuine localist lock and ensure that the strength of local feeling is reflected in the decision taken.