Why did Sport England object to a particular location for a school rebuild

The request was successful.

Dear Sport England,

At a pre-planning application public exhibition event held on 12th June 2014, Wates Construction Ltd informed invited residents (including myself) that Sport England had been consulted about different locations within the school grounds for the siting of the new school building.

The school in question is St John's Primary School, Poplar Street Heaton Mersey. Stockport and it has won PSBP funding aimed at schools in a poor state of repair. The school is not expanding so there will be no loss in the overall area allocated to school playing field and there is appropriate space to resite the sports field.

Wates informed the group that Sport England advised them that they would not support these alternative locations. Specifically, they said that Sport England informed them that they would not support a plan to relocate the school to the Hawthorn Road end of the plot which is the current school sports field.

My request is for the following:

1. Please can you provide me a copy of all the information on record pertaining to the discussion you had with Wates Contstruction (or any agents acting on their behalf) about the location of the new school building.

2. Please can you provide me a copy of all the information on record pertaining to the discussion you had with Wates Contstruction (or any agents acting on their behalf) about your objection to relocating the school to the Hawthorn Road end of the plot.

If this request is too wide or unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me as I understand that under the Act, you are required to advise and assist requesters.

If the release of any of this information is prohibited on the grounds of breach of confidence, I ask that you supply me with copies of the confidentiality agreement and remind you that information should not be treated as confidential if such an agreement has not been signed.

Yours faithfully

Ms Reese

FOI, Sport England

Dear Ms Reese

Thank you for your request for information. I will answer your request as
soon as possible and, in any event, within 20 working days from receipt of
your email. You will hear from me no later than 12 August 2014.

Yours sincerely

Lisa Percival
FOI & Data Protection Manager
T: 020 7273 1680
M: 07833 148614
E: [1][Sport England request email]
I work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

Creating sporting opportunities in every community
Sport England, 21 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3HF

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Lisa Percival, Sport England

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Reese

 

I refer to your request for information.  You asked for:

 

 

1.       the information on record pertaining to the discussion we had
with Wates Construction (or any agents acting on their behalf) about the
location of the new school building; and

 

2.       the information on record pertaining to the discussion we had
with Wates Construction (or any agents acting on their behalf) about your
objection to relocating the school to the Hawthorn Road end of the plot.

 

We have now reviewed our records and I can confirm that we have had no
discussions with Wates Construction or their agents about St John’s
Primary School. 

 

Sport England is a statutory consultee for development applications which
will affect playing fields.  In this case, no planning application has
been submitted but we did enter into pre-application discussions with The
Education Funding Agency (EFA) and a firm of planning consultants

 

When Sport England is consulted about development on playing fields, it
has a statutory obligation to consider the effect of the development on
sport.  Sport England has no legal power to comment on matters such as
impact on local residents, only the local planning authority are able to
consider these kinds of issues.  Therefore, when Sport England received
proposals for development on the playing field at St John’s Primary, we
indicated to the EFA that, were an application to be submitted, we would
object to the application because of the loss of a playing field. 
However, upon the submission of revised proposals, we indicated that we
would not object to these because the development would have no impact on
existing pitch layouts or on the flexibility of the site to accommodate
different pitch layouts.   

 

I hope that the information above is helpful.  If you are not satisfied
with this response and would like us to review our decision, please
contact

 

Erin Stephens

Principal In House Solicitor

Sport England

First Floor

21 Bloomsbury Street

London WC1B 3HF

 

in writing (including by letter or email) and your complaint will be dealt
with through our Internal Review procedure. 

 

Please describe the original request, explain your grounds for
dissatisfaction, and include an address for correspondence. 

 

If you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner. He can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF 
Telephone: 01625 545 700
[1]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Lisa Percival
FOI & Data Protection Manager 

T: 020 7273 1680
M: 07833 148614
E: [2][Sport England request email]

[3]Description: Description: Sport England

Creating sporting opportunities in every community

Sport England, 3rd Floor Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1B
4SE

 

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Dear Lisa Percival,

Thank you for your helpful reply. It is much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Ms Reese