| Topic: | Re:Roehampton playing fields (Dover House Road) | |
| Posted by: | Stuart Moffatt | |
| Date/Time: | 08/11/17 18:15:00 |
| There is an article here about the Dover House playing fields http://www.putneysw15.com/default.asp?section=info&page=issuedhrfields002.htm and yesterevening, Tuesday 7 November, there was a public meeting at Sacred Heart Primary School. The meeting was well run and heard representatives from local schools, sports associations and residents. As a nearby resident I have always valued the open space which is the playing fields, not for any use I have made of it, but for the facility it provides the children and young people. It had puzzled me from time to time that it appeared to be underutilised during the week and I wondered why more schools did not make use of it. I think I understand now. What I had thought was that as a public space, maintained by the Council, the field would be made available to local council run schools free of charge. I was astonished to learn that they had to pay. Perhaps that should not have surprised me, and perhaps even more so I should not be surprised that the Council begrudge the £50,000 per year cost of maintenance of the fields, which are such an amenity for I could not count how many hundreds youngsters who use it each week. It seems to me a small price for the community to pay to keep and to train these young ones giving them something consructive for which to work each week. The plans which have been made available, though the council have expressed the view that there will be no disadvantage to the current users of the site, do seem to me to take away from the flexibility of the field by dividing it up into different sectors, providing an astroturf pitch, which no doubt will be fenced off from the rest of the field. This seems to be a severe diminution in the amenity of the site for the varied classes of users of the fields, which presently can for the greater part be divided as the need arises. I am disappointed that the Council yet again seek to change the use of the fields, passing responsibility for them into private hands, and thereby allowing private enterprise to profit from public property, so that they will become less of an asset for schools and voluntary associations. But I understand, they want to save a penny or two. |