§ Kate HoeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will provide a breakdown by site owner type/category of planning consultations received by Sport England in relation to change of use on playing fields received in the years(a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01 and (c) 2001–02; and how many had planning permission granted. [57629]
§ Mr. Caborn[holding answer 20 May 2002]: The breakdown by site owner type/category of planning applications affecting playing fields received by Sport England in their capacity as statutory consultee are listed in the table. Data for the year 2001–02, and that relating to whether planning permission was granted to applications from particular types of site ownership or categories are not available.
Site owner type/category 1999–2000 2000–01 Private sports club 117 148 Local authority 112 180 Local education authority/community school 294 404 Foundation school 20 24 Higher education/college 36 43 Health authority 3 4 Ministry of Defence 3 3 Other 67 90 Not known 5 6
§ Kate HoeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many consultations were received by Sport England in(a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01 and (c) 2001–02 in relation to change of use of playing fields; on how many in each year Sport England raised no objections; and how many had planning permission granted. [57630]
§ Mr. Caborn[holding answer 20 May 2002]: Sport England in their role as statutory consultee for planning applications affecting playing fields received 657 such applications for the year 1999–2000, and of those, 625 applications fell under their remit as a statutory consultee. Of this number, Sport England raised no objection to 492 applications, all of which contained proposals which had no detrimental effect on the stock or 1006W quality of playing pitches on playing fields, or to sport as a whole. 431 of these applications received planning permission.
Sport England in their role as statutory consultee for planning applications affecting playing fields received 902 such applications for the year 2001–02, and of those, 875 applications fell under their remit as a statutory consultee. Of this number, Sport England raised no objection to 743 applications, all of which contained proposals which had no detrimental effect on the stock or quality of playing pitches on playing fields, or to sport as a whole. 611 of these applications received planning permission. Figures for the year 2001–02 are not available.
Planning applications affecting playing fields can often involve a change of use that benefits sport rather than resulting in the outright sale of playing fields or their development. It should also be noted that where planning permission is granted this does not necessarily mean that the proposed development or change of use went ahead. Data are not collected centrally on whether planning applications are actually implemented.