Alliance responds to announcement on planning reforms

The government has announced that it will be retaining Sport England as a statutory consultee in the planning system.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has announced that Sport England will be retained as a statutory consultee with a reformed role.

This follows Government’s original announcement that it would seek to remove Sport England as a statutory consultee as part of its wider ambitions to speed up housebuilding and support economic growth. MHCLG consulted late last year on proposals to reform the statutory consultee system as well as wider changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Again, the Government announced retaining protections for pitches, playing fields and facilities as part of the NPPF following concerns raised across the sport and recreation sector.

The Alliance has led the opposition to the proposed removal of Sport England as a statutory consultee and wider reforms to the NPPF. 

We launched our Protect Where We Play campaign in direct response to mobilise support across our membership and the wider sector and highlight the huge value playing fields, pitches and community sports facilities bring to local communities across the country. 

The campaign successfully resulted in large numbers of submissions to the Government’s consultation as well as almost 35,000 people signing our petition to express their opposition to Sport England’s removal, forcing a formal Government response. The Government highlights public opposition to the proposals, including the volume of respondents to our petition and consultation, as “significant”.

The campaign also mobilised the grassroots with large numbers of people writing to their local MP to raise concerns over the threat to local playing fields, pitches and sports facilities. The Alliance has also lobbied ministers directly and taken the campaign into Parliament, hosting an APPG for Sport roundtable to highlight our concerns with MPs and Peers.

Lisa Wainwright MBE, CEO of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, said: "We welcome that Sport England will remain a statutory consultee. 

"The Government’s decision to reverse its initial proposal demonstrates the importance of the sector speaking with one voice, and more broadly, the value of places and spaces to play sport which ensures they will be protected for future generations.

"Our playing fields, pitches and community facilities are the places all children take their first step into grassroots sport and provide the platform for some to go on to become our future sporting stars. That is why the Alliance launched the Protect Where We Play campaign.

"We will now work closely with Sport England on the detail and I am grateful to our members who helped get behind the campaign, leaving the Government in no doubt of the critical role Sport England plays in the planning system."

Ralph Rimmer OBE, Chair of the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s NGB Coalition division, said: "This announcement is hugely welcome and ensures that playing fields, pitches and community sports facilities will continue to have important protections in the planning system. 

"The announcement highlights the impact of the Alliance’s campaign which mobilised the collective power of National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs), co-ordinated through the the NGB Coalition, and wider Alliance members to make our voice heard.  

"We have said all along that removal of Sport England as a statutory consultee posed an existential threat to sport and recreation and we are extremely pleased to see the Government has listened and changed course.”

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