News archive

3 letters from SE to WBC planning:

1.

From: Bob
Sharples
Sent: 10 September 2018 11:33
To: ‘planapps@westberks.gov.uk’ <planapps@westberks.gov.uk>
Subject: App Ref: 18/02046/DEMO – Faraday Road Stadium – Sport England
Ref: PA/18/SE/WB/50029

FAO J Singh
Esq.

Dear Jay,

Thank you
for consulting Sport England on the above application.

Sport England – Statutory Role and Policy

It is understood that the proposal prejudices the use, or leads to
the loss of use, of land being used as a playing field or has been used as a
playing field in the last five years, as defined in the Town and Country
Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (Statutory
Instrument 2015 No. 595). The consultation with Sport England is therefore a
statutory requirement.

Sport England has considered the application in light of the
National Planning Policy Framework (particularly Para 97) and Sport England’s
Playing Fields Policy, which is presented within its ‘Playing Fields Policy and
Guidance Document’: www.sportengland.org/playingfieldspolicy

Sport England’s policy is to oppose the granting of planning permission
for any development which would lead to the loss of, or prejudice the use of,
all/part of a playing field, unless one or more of the five exceptions stated
in its policy apply.

The Proposal and Impact on Playing Field

This an application for prior notification for demolition of
spectator stand.

Assessment against Sport England Policy/NPPF

Without the stand, football cannot be played on this site at the
level it is currently able to be played, therefore the application prejudices
the use of the playing field.

I am also concerned that the applicants have
not linked this application to applications 18/00604/OUT and 18/00603/COMIND, which deal with the redevelopment of the whole site.
I would draw your attention in particular to
our responses to both these previous applications (which I have attached) where we require that details
of the re-provision of the facilities are submitted prior to any redevelopment
of the site.

Conclusion

In light of the above, Sport England objects to the
application because it is not considered to accord with any of the exceptions
to Sport England’s Playing Fields Policy or with Paragraph 97 of the NPPF.

Should the local planning authority be minded to grant planning
permission for the proposal, contrary to Sport England’s objection then in
accordance with The Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England)
Direction 2009, the application should be referred to the Secretary of State,
via the National Planning Casework Unit.

If this application is to be presented to a Planning Committee, we
would like to be notified in advance of the publication of any committee
agendas, report(s) and committee date(s). We would be grateful if you would
advise us of the outcome of the application by sending us a copy of the
decision notice.

To overcome our objection, this application should be linked/make
reference to planning applications 18/00604/OUT and 18/00603/COMIND and have
the same conditions about details of the replacement provision attached to the
permission.

If
you would like any further information or advice please contact me at the
address below

Yours sincerely,

Bob

Bob Sharples RIBA MRTPI
Principal Planning Manager – South Planning Team

T: 07830
315030
M: 07830315030
F: 01509
233 192
E: Bob.Sharples@sportengland.org

2.

FAO J Singh Esq.

Dear Jay,

Thank you for consulting Sport England on the
above named application.

It is understood that the proposal prejudices
the use, or leads to the loss of use, of land being used as a playing field or
has been used as a playing field in the last five years, as defined in The Town
and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015
(Statutory Instrument 2015 No. 595). The consultation with Sport England is
therefore a statutory requirement.

Sport England has considered the application in
light of the National Planning Policy Framework (in particular Para. 97), and
against its own playing fields policy, which states:

‘Sport England will oppose the granting of
planning permission for any development which would lead to the loss of, or would
prejudice the use of:

all or any part of a playing field, or

• land which has been used as a playing field and remains
  undeveloped, or
• land allocated for use as a playing field

unless, in the judgement of Sport England, the
development as a whole meets with one or more of five specific exceptions.’

Sport England’s Playing Fields Policy and
Guidance document can be viewed via the below link:

www.sportengland.org/playingfieldspolicy

This is an outline planning application follows
the application submitted in April this year for the renewal and expansion
of existing football pitch including artificial pitches, application number
18/00603/COMIND, which is currently awaiting a decision.

What is being applied for in this application
is outline consent for the replacement of clubhouse and stand at Newbury
Football Ground. Matters to be considered: Access and Layout.

The Football Association and the Football
Foundation are supportive of this proposal.

Having assessed the application, Sport England
is satisfied that the proposed development should meet exception 2 of our
playing fields policy, in that:

‘The proposed development is for ancillary
facilities supporting the principal use of the site as a playing field, and
does not affect the quantity or quality of playing pitches or otherwise
adversely affect their use.’

As the proposal is an outline application there
are insufficient details to ensure that the clubhouse meets the standards
required by the football league. This can be addressed by a suitable
condition to ensure the design and layout are acceptable, in order to meet our
planning policy exception E2. This would remove any doubt.

However, this application cannot be implemented
without 18/00603/COMIND being implemented. While this may seem common
sense, it is the view of the Football Association, the Football Foundation and
Sport England that there needs to be a condition to ensure that neither
application can be implemented independently. This is in line with
condition 2 which my colleague Vicky Aston recommended in her response to
18/00603/COMIND on the 10th May 2018.

Given the above assessment, Sport England does
not wish to raise an objection to this application subject to the following
conditions:

1. No development shall commence until further details of
   the design and layout of the clubhouse and stand have been submitted to
   and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority after consultation
   with Sport England. The pitches shall not be constructed other than in
   accordance with the approved details.

Reason: To ensure the
development is fit for purpose and sustainable and to accord with Development
Plan Policy **.

1. No development shall commence until details for the
   phasing of the development, including the re-provision of the new
   full-size 3G Artificial Grass Pitch, a junior pitch and 2 mini pitches,
   have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning
   Authority after consultation with Sport England. The development hereby
   permitted shall not be carried out other than in accordance with the
   approved details.

Reason: To
ensure the satisfactory quantity, quality and accessibility of the ancillary
facilities (clubhouse and stand) which secures a continuity of use and to
accord with Development Plan Policy **.

The absence of an objection to this
application, in the context of the Town and Country Planning Act, cannot be
taken as formal support or consent from Sport England or any National Governing
Body of Sport to any related funding application, or as may be required by
virtue of any pre-existing funding agreement.

If you would like any further information or
advice please contact the undersigned at the address below.

Yours sincerely,

Bob

Bob Sharples RIBA MRTPI

Principal Planning Manager – South
Planning Team

T: 07830 315030
M: 07830315030
F: 01509 233 192
E: Bob.Sharples@sportengland.org

3.

Newbury Town Council Planning Meeting Monday 10th September 2018

NCFG’s objection to the demolition of the stand at Faraday Road was not supported by the councillors on a narrow vote 🙁

However…

Application for new buidings & car park for NCFG’s 3G developments at the ground were widely supported! 🙂

Letter of support for NCFG’s stadium plans from Newbury Ladies Manager Sue Hewett, read out at the Newbury Town Council Planning & Highways meeting 10/09/18:

Introduction to Newbury Ladies FC

1. Firstly,
I would like to thank you for having me here today and for allowing me to have
a couple of minutes of your time to address you.

2. My
name is Sue Hewett and I am the First Team Manager of Newbury Ladies Football
Club.

3. This
is something that I have been doing for the last 7 years and before that, I was
a player for Newbury Ladies for the previous 7 years.

4. Our
football club is a successful, long established team. We’ve been in existence since 2003.

5. Our
First Team plays at a high level in the Women’s game, against teams like
Southampton and AFC Bournemouth – we also compete every year in the Women’s
F.A. Cup.

6. We
currently run 2 adult female teams, with participation starting at the age of
16.

7. We
currently have a total of 38 players.

8. We
could easily run more teams for both women and girls – in fact we would love to
expand and start teams for girls in the younger age groups under the Newbury
Ladies Football Club umbrella – but a lack of good facilities prevents this.

9. The
biggest drop-out rates for Youth Football is by 16-18 year olds – and this is a
really vulnerable age group.

10. Our
Ladies teams currently play our home matches on the Donnington Recreation
Ground, which is good – BUT we can’t train there in the winter evenings, as
there are no floodlights – and in the poorer weather conditions in the winter
we do find that games get called off and postponed – because it has only one grass
pitch.

11. Also,
we’re not allowed to play our FA Cup games at Donnington because we need a
larger pitch – it needs to be full size – the pitch dimensions required in
order to enter the FA Cup competition must be a minimum of 100 metres in length
and 64 metres wide – and the pitch at Donnington is 10 metres too short,
otherwise we’d be extending into the cricket square, which we can’t do.

12. So,
as a Football Club, we’ve had to be very nomadic when it comes to the FA
Cup. We’ve had some really terrific Cup
ties in recent seasons, but sadly we can’t play those matches at Donnington –
nor in the actual town of Newbury that we are representing.

13. This
is such a shame for our players because we are playing in a national high
profile competition, such as the FA Cup, which has its final at Wembley and yet
we cannot currently play those important games in Newbury.

14. If
we are given a home tie in this season’s FA Cup then we will travel to Lambourn
Football Club, who are very kindly allowing us to play there.

15. This
problem of finding a suitable pitch and facilities will get worse for us if we
are fortunate enough to be promoted in the future, as higher leagues require
better facilities – the current Faraday Road ground has these – it has for
example the good standard changing rooms, adequate showers, a covered area for
supporters, etc.

16. And
when it comes to midweek evening training in the winter months, we had been
able to hire just a third of a pitch at Park House School for the last 2
seasons, but this slot hasn’t been made available to us for the coming season –
so currently we haven’t been able to secure a winter training venue – this is a
real headache for us – in fact it’s a real worry for me personally – as without
proper training during the week, our players won’t be able to keep improving as
they have been.

17. The
problem is, there is a real shortage of quality pitches in the area generally –
but especially 3G pitches for training and playing matches.

18. So
why is 3G so important?

19. The
Football Association conducted a recent survey of West Berkshire and it
highlighted that the area was actually 4 full size 3G pitches short to meet the
demand of the West Berks community.

20. A
3G pitch is an artificial pitch that can be used over 10 times more a week than
a grass pitch.

21. Third
generation or 3G artificial grass pitches are recognised as durable, safe,
year-round playing surfaces, able to withstand intensive use and all kinds of
weather.

22. They
mean more people can benefit from all the associated positive social and health
impacts of participating in regular physical activity.

23. The
FA extol the benefits of 3G for wider use in the grassroots football community
– their Report says: “They are a very useful asset and capable of delivering 50
plus hours per week as compared to a natural turf pitch which can deliver
perhaps five hours per week.

24. The
FA chairman has vowed to deliver a “radical new approach” to grassroots
football that would reverse years of neglect of shabby, waterlogged municipal
facilities by investing heavily in new 3G pitches and overhauling its approach
to youth coaching.

25. Newbury
is home to over 45,000 people and it is set to grow by about 6,000 over the
next 10 years.

26. All
of the evidence concludes that sporting facilities are indisputably essential
to maintaining a healthy community.

27. So,
what we need – is the same type of facilities as the current Faraday Road
Ground has – but a 3G pitch – not grass.

28. Thank
you again for your time this evening.

18 00604 OUT
Outline permission for Replacement of clubhouse and stand at Newbury

Football Ground
Matters to be considered: Access and Layout.
Newbury Football Club Faraday Road Newbury Berkshire RG14 2AD

We appreciate that Newbury Football Club (AFC Newbury) is not in a position on its own to turn this application into reality, but we believe it and its sister application for the pitches raise a serious issue.

West Berkshire Council has been preparing plans for the London Road Industrial Estate (i.e. Faraday Road area, which includes this site) for years now, but so far their plans have not gone out for consultation; and there has been no opportunity for public input.

Following the issues with the Market Street “gateway” development (towards which the council is contributing multi-million-pound assets, with – as some would say – little obvious gain for the town of Newbury), we need to see a clear gain for Newbury in the LRIE redevelopment. It should not be a purely commercial redevelopment, but must include community facilities – facilities catering for the town as a whole, and not just catering for new on-site residents.

One such community facility could be a sports area, including an up-to-date, properly-planned, football ground. Newbury as a town is large enough and wealthy enough to expect such a facility, and it would be a perfect partner for this development. The health and wellbeing of Newbury is key and sport plays a key part in the well-being of residents. And after all, it was Newbury ratepayers who paid for the purchase of this site, not council tax payers from West Berkshire as a whole

It is given these circumstances that we support this application. We are responding to this as an outline application, for a replacement clubhouse and stand, accompanying the application for more pitches. We accept that further work will be needed on the detail; and we are not making any current assumptions about the ownership or occupation of such a ground.

Given the economic circumstances in which local authorities are placed, the prospect for land purchase is severely limited. West Berkshire Council must make sure that its plans for the LRIE genuinely represent the needs of its residents, and in particular the residents of Newbury.

David Peacock
Newbury Society
September 1, 2018

We have a thousand supporters after five days!

Newbury Weekly News / Newbury Today article from 07/09/18

https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/sport/25335/newbury-ladies-seeking-a-home-of-their-own.html

WBC planning dept acknowledges receipt of objections to stand demolition (example):

6th September 2018

Development and Planning Service

Council Offices, Market Street

Newbury, Berkshire RG14 5LD

Our Ref: COMACK/18/02046/DEMO

Your Ref:

Tel:: 01635 519927

Fax: 01635 519408

e-mail: planapps@westberks.gov.uk

Dear Sir/Madam

APPLICATION NUMBER: 18/02046/DEMO

PROPOSAL: Application for prior notification for demolition of spectator stand

SITE: Newbury Football Club, Newbury Football Club, Faraday Road, Newbury

Thank you for your recent letter which will be taken into account in arriving at a decision.

Most applications are determined by officers under delegated authority but if it is going to be determined by a Planning Committee you will be informed of the date and the procedures. The officer’s report will be available for inspection on the Wednesday of the week before the meeting either at the Council Offices or on the website at www.westberks.gov.uk/planning. Please note that it is not possible to enter into correspondence with third parties on individual applications.

If you require any further information, please contact the Customer Call Centre on the above telephone number, quoting our reference. Alternatively you can check the progress of this application online by using our website.

Please be aware that the entire content of your correspondence will be published on the Council’s website unless you have indicated otherwise and in any case, will be held as part of the planning file, available for inspection at the Council’s offices. Your attention is drawn to the item entitled Your Personal Data which is available on the Council’s website at the following address: www.westberks.gov.uk/personaldata.

Yours faithfully

Jay Singh

Case Officer

We have invited 52 West Berks and 14 Newbury Town councillors to our pre-public consultation meeting on Thu 13 Sep at Document House.
See the letter below:

Dear
Councillor ######

What’s
the fuss about – Newbury doesn’t need a football ground – does it?

In order
to ensure that the people of Newbury get the chance to fully understand the
details of the recently submitted planning application for
a state of the art 3G pitch and new clubhouse
facilities at Faraday Road and to provide a forum where people can openly ask
questions, we have arranged a public consultation event on Thursday 13th
September 2018 in a meeting room at the Document House 7-9 Wharf St, Newbury RG14 5AN. Two sessions have been
arranged, one that starts at 6.00pm and the second one at 7.00pm.

Rightly
or wrongly we feel that the Councillors of West Berkshire Council and Newbury Town
Council are not fully aware of why a significant number of the local electorate
and their young families, think that it is really important to preserve and
enhance a community football ground in Newbury. As such we would like the
opportunity to arrange a meeting with you to discuss the key points and to
share with you with the evidence that makes this such a crucial and important
local issue. You are of course welcome to join either of the public
consultation slots mentioned above but if there is sufficient interest from you
(and your fellow councillors) we would like to invite you to a “Councillors pre
-public consultation discussion” at the
Document House 7-9 Wharf St, Newbury RG14 5AN at 5.00pm.

We
sense that the Council’s current position is entrenched in as much as a
“vision” floated a number of years ago could mean that the town’s only football
ground will be sacrificed to build 80 or so more flats near the town
centre. Some of the questions we are being asked are:

“Why
does it have to be either flats or the football ground – why can’t we have both
like every other town that I can think of?”

“How’s
this going to help with the health and wellbeing of the town. If the population
of Newbury keeps expanding don’t we need more and better facilities not less?”

“It’s
totally unthinkable that Newbury will no longer have a senior team playing in
the town – how come smaller towns like Hungerford and Thatcham can achieve this
and we can’t – what’s going on here?

“Newbury
community needs a football ground. Sport is an important part of life”

“Newbury
is a large town with few enough sporting facilities, this is desperately
needed”

“The
ground is looking a bit tired; can’t the Council invest in it to bring it up to
date?”

“I was
unaware that the Council had plans to demolish the ground – have they
undertaken a public consultation and asked the people of Newbury what they
think”?

“You’re
wasting your time – the problem is that this Council never listens to what the
public wants?”

“Not
even more flats! – Newbury’s fast becoming just a dormitory town”

“Doesn’t its Asset of Community Status (ACV)
status protect it from being concreted over?”

“If the
Council is hellbent on building on it are they not obliged to replace it before
any new development takes place?”

“What
do the FA and Sport England think of this – will they allow the Council to
build on a designated sports pitch”?

“Who
are NCFG and what do they stand for?”

“Why have
the Council closed the ground now? – it’s such a shame to see it empty and
unloved”

“I saw
the Council’s press release suggesting that they will re-open it as an
unmanaged turn up and play multi use 5 a side facility – whose idea was
this? who is going to use it, can it still be used for organised
matches?

“I’ve
never voted in a local election before, but in May next year, I will make sure
that I understand where my councillor stands on this specific matter”

This is really important for local democracy and we genuinely hope that
you can take time out to come along to “Councillors
pre -public consultation discussion” at the
Document House 7-9 Wharf St, Newbury RG14 5AN on Thursday 13th September 2018 at 5.00pm.

Please
be kind enough to reply to this email with a simple YES, I would like to meet
with you next Thursday 13th September at 5.00pm or NO, sorry but I am unable to
attend.

Yours sincerely

Paul Morgan

On behalf of Newbury Community Football Group (NCFG)