Education and Skills written question – answered at on 25 February 2002.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list applications made to her Department in the last three years for consent to allow development on school playing fields giving in each case (a) the outcome of the application, (b) what steps were taken to ascertain whether adequate sports facilities would remain if permission were granted and (c) where consent was given, what assurances were secured as to how proceeds of sale would be used.
Although the Department does not collect information in the form requested, the following table lists applications to dispose of areas equal to, or larger than, a sports pitch, together with their outcome.
Before October 1998, there was nothing to prevent a local authority selling a school playing field if it wanted to. Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 was introduced in October 1998 to stop the indiscriminate sale of school playing fields. Local authorities and governing bodies of all maintained schools are now required to obtain the Secretary of State's consent before disposing of playing fields or any part of a playing field. Applications to dispose, or change the use, of school playing fields are assessed against the following criteria:
(a) schools' needs: that playing field provision and curriculum requirements at the school making the disposal, and at other schools in the local area, will be met;
(b) community needs: that community use of a school's playing fields is taken into account, with alternative facilities made available if necessary;
(c) finance: that any sale proceeds are re-invested to provide new or improved sports facilities at schools, or are used to help to raise standards by providing better educational facilities.
Only those applications that meet the criteria are approved. Since July 2001, all applications have been scrutinised by the independent School Playing Fields Advisory Panel to make sure that they conform to the published criteria. The Panel comprises representatives from the National Playing Fields Association, the Central Council of Physical Recreation, the education organisation Learning through Landscapes, the National Association of Head Teachers and the Local Government Association.
Local education authority | School | Date applied |
---|---|---|
Barnet | Ashmole School | 15 December 1998 |
Bedfordshire | Silver Jubilee Middle School | 30 April 1999 |
Bedfordshire | Ashton St. Peter VA School | 29 September 2000 |
Birmingham | Broadway School | 11 June 2001 |
Blackpool | Collegiate High School | 13 December 1999 |
Bolton | St. James's CofE School | 24 July 1998 |
Bristol | Monks Park Secondary School | 28 October 1998 |
Buckinghamshire | Bellfield First and Middle Schools | 22 February 1999 |
Buckinghamshire | Terriers County First School | 10 May 1999 |
Buckinghamshire | Downley Middle School | 12 January 2000 |
Buckinghamshire | Heights First School | 12 January 2000 |
Calderdale | Brooksbank School | 1 July 1998 |
Cheshire | St. James CofE Junior School | 30 November 1998 |
Cheshire | Colshaw CP School | 30 June 1999 |
Cheshire | Westlands High School | 17 November 1999 |
Cheshire | Manor Park Infant School | 27 November 2000 |
Cheshire | Brookside County Infant School | 5 February 2001 |
Croydon | Haling Manor High School | 4 January 1999 |
Derbyshire | Noel Baker Community School | 2 November 1998 |
Derbyshire | Western Mere School | 2 February 1999 |
Derbyshire | Pingle School | 26 July 2000 |
Devon | Highweek Primary School | 17 August 1999 |
Dorset | Fosters School | 7 December 1998 |
Dudley | Colley Lane Primary School | 11 October 2001 |
Dudley | Summerhill Secondary School | 11 October 2001 |
Durham | The Avenue Comprehensive School | 19 May 1999 |
Durham | Westwood Primary School | 31 July 2000 |
Essex | The Stanway School | 17 November 1998 |
Essex | Moulsham High School | 18 January 1999 |
Essex | Oakview Special School | 10 April 2000 |
Essex | Tabor High School | 29 January 2001 |
Gloucestershire | Churchdown School | 3 December 1997 |
Gloucestershire | The Catholic School of St. Gregory the Great | 26 July 1999 |
Gloucestershire | Oxstalls Community School | 25 November 1999 |
Halton | Ashley Special School | 6 November 1998 |
Hammersmith and Fulham | Gibbs Green Special School | 8 March 1999 |
Hammersmith and Fulham | Burlington Danes School | 16 March 1999 |
Havering | Frances Bardsley School for Girls | 13 August 1999 |
Kent | St. Thomas' Special School | 12 May 1999 |
Kent | St. Simon Stock School | 13 December 1999 |
Kent | Allhallows Primary School | 12 July 2001 |
Knowsley | Sylvester School | 12 August 1999 |
Lancashire | St. Richards RC High School | 15 December 1998 |
Lancashire | St. Thomas Acquinas RC High School | 5 February 1999 |
Lancashire | Baines High School | 15 November 2000 |
Leeds | Lawnswood School | 21 November 2000 |
Leeds | Oakwood Primary School | 21 November 2000 |
Leeds | Roundhay School | 21 November 2000 |
Leeds | Wetherby High School | 19 September 2001 |
Liverpool | Childwall Comprehensive School | 9 April 2001 |
Milton Keynes | Denbigh School | 16 November 1998 |
Milton Keynes | Castles First School | 6 August 1999 |
Norfolk | Redgate Middle School | 12 April 2000 |
North-East Lincs | Hereford Technology College | 13 November 2000 |
North Tyneside | St. Mary's Roman Catholic School | 22 December 1998 |
North Yorkshire | Settle CE Primary School | 20 November 1998 |
Northamptonshire | John Lea Secondary School | 14 August 2000 |
Northumberland | St. Benet Biscop RC Aided High School | 5 February 1999 |
Northumberland | Gallowhill Hall Special School | 18 February 2000 |
Nottinghamshire | Manor Comprehensive School | 14 April 2000 |
Nottinghamshire | Lincoln Street Infant School | 14 July 2000 |
Oldham | Kaskenmoor Secondary School | 29 October 1999 |
Oxfordshire | Wallingford School | 16 June 2000 |
Peterborough | The King's School | 8 May 1998 |
Peterborough | Deacons School | 28 July 1998 |
Peterborough | The King's School | 27 September 2000 |
Rochdale | Spring Hill High School | 7 May 1999 |
Rochdale | Middleton Technology School | 28 March 2001 |
Sefton | Litherland Moss County Primary School | 22 March 1999 |
Shropshire | Lower Grove School | 2 February 2001 |
Somerset | King Arthur's Comprehensive School | 24 March 1999 |
Somerset | Ladymead Comprehensive School | 6 April 1999 |
Staffordshire | Sir Graham Balfour High School | 25 June 1999 |
Surrey | Rosebery School | 6 January 1998 |
Surrey | Okewood District CE School | 30 November 1998 |
Surrey | Merland Rise CP School | 8 January 1999 |
Surrey | Banstead County Junior School and St. Anne's RC Primary School | 27 May 1999 |
Surrey | Park Mead Junior School | 8 March 2000 |
Surrey | Boxgrove Primary School | 13 April 2000 |
Tameside | Egerton Park High School | 17 January 2000 |
Telford and Wrekin | Blessed Robert Johnson School | 26 March 1999 |
Wakefield | South Elmsall Middle School | 10 December 1998 |
Wakefield | Kinsley First School | 13 January 1999 |
Wakefield | Kinsley First School | 30 July 1999 |
Walsall | Beacon School | 18 December 1998 |
Walsall | St. Thomas More Catholic Comprehensive School | 18 April 2001 |
Warwickshire | Attleborough First School | 11 December 1998 |
Warwickshire | Exhall First School | 21 July 1999 |
Warwickshire | Binley Woods First School | 3 August 1999 |
Warwickshire | Stratford-upon-Avon High School | 14 August 2000 |
Warwickshire | Marie Corelli School | 21 August 2000 |
West Sussex | Hazelwick School | 7 February 2000 |
Wigan | Hindley Borsdane Brook Special School | 11 February 1999 |
Wigan | Rose Hill Special School | 11 February 1999 |
Wigan | Tyldesley Highfield Special School | 11 February 1999 |
Wigan | Orrell Holgate Primary School | 4 December 2000 |
Wiltshire | Castle Combe Primary School | 7 August 2000 |
Wolverhampton | St. Peters Collegiate School | 25 November 1998 |
Wolverhampton | Aldersley High School | 4 December 1998 |
Worcestershire | Callowbrook First School | 6 November 2000 |
Notes:
1. 'Sports pitch' means areas of open grassed land which are equal to, or larger than, the Football Association's recommended area for games played by under-10s, that is 2,000m
(13) and which have a configuration making them suitable for sports pitches (whether they are so laid out or not).
2. The table excludes applications withdrawn by the applicant and applications where schools would retain the same, or a better, level of access to the same sports pitch or to an equivalent sports pitch.
3. The table includes applications from grant-maintained schools, where the application was made under section 231 of the Education Act 1996 but the decision was made in accordance with the draft criteria and then the criteria published in Circular No. 3/99, "The Protection of School Playing Fields". It also includes applications in respect of foundation and voluntary schools considered under Schedule 22 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 since
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