KES wins planning appeal for homes on playing fields in Stratford to help pay for new sports facilities
CONTROVERSIAL plans for six houses to be built on the playing fields of King Edward VI School in Stratford have been given the green light after years of protests and appeals.
It’s a decision which will disappoint residents on Manor Road where the new homes will be built on a small strip of land at the edge of the playing fields.
But it will delight the school as well as at sporting clubs, as the plan is to use money from the development to improve the school’s sports facilities and allow them to be used by the community.
The decision in favour of the homes was made last week. The school trustees had lodged an appeal to the planning inspectorate in November after their application had been refused permission by Stratford District Council for a second time. The council refused the plans over parking issues from the new homes and threats to trees on the playing field.
An inspector visited the site visit on 13th June and allowed the school’s appeal.
The school told the Herald this week: “King Edward VI School’s longstanding plans to develop a community sports hub at their Manor Road sports grounds, with benefits to be shared between the school and local community, are finally to be realised. This follows a successful appeal to the planning inspectorate, which has granted planning permission for a development comprising six houses on a small, unused piece of land at the periphery of the sports grounds along Manor Road.”
The new facilities include a floodlit all-weather hockey pitch, which converts into six tennis courts. Planning permission had already been granted for this part of the scheme, along with a new access road leading to a 60-space car park and coach parking bay.
The school’s Grade II-listed pavilion, which was designed by Warwickshire architect Robert Harvey, will be modernised and there will be four new changing areas and toilet facilities, plus a separate staff/referee changing area and a first aid room.
The planning application had widespread public support, including from sports clubs in the town, with more than 1,600 supporters giving their backing to a school petition. This included the membership of Stratford Hockey Club, whose teams currently play a large number of home games in Warwick. The club will be one the beneficiaries of the sports hub.
The school said the upgraded facilities will make a huge difference to its students who have been involved in more than 400 competitive fixtures in 11 different sports over the year. Access to its own all-weather sports pitch will also mean KES will no longer have to transport students to places such as Solihull for hockey and tennis ‘home’ fixtures.
Headmaster Bennet Carr added: “I am delighted. We’ve needed this facility for a long time and to get there is a massive boost to the students and the community.
“I am committed to sports facilities like this and to share them with the town. We are really grateful for the support we have received, and I appreciate for us to enable this plan we’ve had to use a strip of land which is currently unused. I want to re-assure residents living nearby that every £1 will go to improving the sports facilities on this site which will all be funded by the sale of the land.”
Critics of the scheme argued KES did not need to develop land to fund its sports facilities – it is a wealthy school and could have raised the money by calling on its old boys to contribute.
However, Mr Carr said: “We are one of the lowest funded 11 to 18-year-old schools in Warwickshire – it’s a myth that we are wealthy.
“These facilities will help us try to buck the trend [of children not playing sport] because if you pass other state schools you’ll see the playing fields closed on a Saturday morning – not at KES. Hundreds of students will be using the facilities all year round.”
But the news is a bitter blow to those residents who opposed the sale of the land for development.
Cllr Kate Rolfe (Lib Dem, Stratford Tiddington) fought the scheme and the various planning applications for 14 years.
“I’m obviously disheartened to hear KES has won their appeal to build six houses on the playing field,” she told the Herald. “I’m particularly upset for those residents who live on Manor Road and surrounding areas who have fought strongly over many years against the many applications that KES has brought forward.
“If only KES had taken up our suggestion of asking its alumni to donate a small amount every year and perhaps using some Stratford Town Trust money, then the residents wouldn’t have to put up with six large houses spoiling their view across a very special green lung in a built-up area, and KES would then have the money to improve their sporting facilities.
“KES promised to allow community organisations to benefit by using these facilities and we look forward to hearing details of how this will work.”
When such decisions are finally made, one of the parties that looks set to benefit is Stratford Hockey Club. Its chair Mark Reynolds told the Herald: “We have been very well served by our home pitch at Stratford School for over 25 years and we look forward to this continuing for many years to come.
“However, our growing club’s requirements exceeded the capacity of a single all-weather pitch some years ago. For some years we have been playing several ‘home’ games most weekends at hired facilities in Warwick, a situation which is clearly not sustainable for a Stratford club.
“We are confident that KES’s new facilities will make a superb, and long overdue, addition to the town’s sporting facilities. In spite of a large number of housing and other developments going ahead in recent years, it has been rare for one with such an overwhelming public benefit to come forward and the school should be applauded for its perseverance and its vision for the project.”
The original plans for the homes were turned down by SDC three years ago and the school’s planning appeal was refused. It returned with a refreshed application last year, which the school believed had removed the objections that prevented the first plans from getting permission, but it too was rejected by SDC.
The school’s appeal included an application for SDC to cover the school’s costs.