§ Diana OrganTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many school playing fields have been disposed of since 2001; and what purposes the land was used for in each case. [163663]
§ Mr. Stephen TwiggSection 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 requires local authorities and schools to obtain the written consent of the Secretary of State before they can dispose of any part of a school's playing field. Schools are only allowed to dispose of genuinely surplus areas of playing fields. All sale proceeds from approved applications are used to provide new or improved sports or education facilities at maintained schools.
Since 2001, only 40 applications have been approved that would result in the loss of an area of school playing field that is capable of forming at least a small sports pitch of 2000m2. Some 19 of these cases are at closed or closing school sites. Of the 21 cases at operating schools, 18 of them included proposals to provide better sports 1401W facilities, including 11 new sports halls and eight all-weather pitches. The remaining thee cases provided improved school facilities including a new school and new school buildings.
The purpose of our assessment process is to ensure that the land is genuinely surplus to needs, not to monitor its future use. That is a matter for the local planning authority. We, therefore, do not record the purposes to which the land will be used following approval to dispose.