Kings Macclesfield were seeking to develop a new school with extensive sports facilities, supported by residential development. As part of the planning process, pre-application advice was sought from Sport England, who expressed concern about the scheme, in terms of its impact on the loss of playing fields across the site.
SPC provided specialist sports planning expertise to support the redevelopment of Kings School Macclesfield and overcome Sport England objections.
Kings School were undertaking a major school re-build project, which impacted significantly on playing fields and sports facilities. SPC were appointed to support the school and the client team to develop a mitigation solution to the future sports provision across the new school site, which would meet both the needs of the school and wider community and address Sport England planning policy concerns.
SPC were appointed to undertake a sports needs assessment (SNA) to make the case for the development. Following the successful granting of planning permission, SPC were subsequently retained to discharge the planning conditions, which included the delivery of a community use agreement and sports development plan.
The key issue to resolve was to demonstrate a clear sporting / community need for the proposed indoor and outdoor sports provision, demonstrating how it would operate and function and benefit community sport over and above the loss of the playing fields. In terms of Sport England policy considerations, the case focused on Sport England policy exception E5, to make the case that the proposed provision of the indoor and built facilities outweighed the loss of 1.4ha of playing fields. Our work focussed on demonstrating the need, benefit and sustainability of the proposed 6-court sports hall, dedicated cricket hall, 6-lane swimming pool, gym and dance studio, plus improvements to AGP provision and pavilion.
The assessment followed the Sport England Assessing Needs and Opportunities Guidance (ANOG) and assessed the quantity, quality, accessibility and availability of competing provision in the catchment, demonstrating the unique role of Kings. Extensive consultation with national governing bodies and potential user groups was also undertaken in order to make the rounded case for development.
The assessment concluded that under both paragraph 99 c) of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and Sport England Playing Fields Policy exception E5; that the development of the proposed indoor and built facilities outweighed the loss caused by the loss of playing fields. The assessment concluded that the proposal was planning policy compliant and met with both the NPPF and Sport England’s Playing Field Policy.
The development was subject to various conditions, SPC therefore also provided further support to discharge the condition to develop a Community Use Agreement (CUA) and Sports Development Plan (SDP) for the school. The CUA and SDP were prepared in consultation with the relevant National Governing Bodies of Sport and sports clubs. These documents now provide the usage framework for the school, which has now successfully opened.
'Thank you for forwarding the Sports Needs Assessment for comment. Can I firstly thank Neil Allen for providing a very thorough and easy to read assessment. I have no issues to raise or comments/queries on the content.... the Assessment clearly shows the indoor sports facilities proposed meet a strategic need and have sporting benefits that outweigh the loss of 1.4ha of playing field. This meets paragraph 97(iii) of NPPF and Sport England’s exception to policy E5.'
Fiona Pudge, Sport England Planning Manager
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