| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Roehampton Playing Fields - Asset of Community Value | |
| Posted by: | Chantal Blake-Milton | |
| Date/Time: | 24/11/17 06:17:00 |
| Useful article on the front page here about the meeting. Good to see ARK Academy getting involved, as the sale of the Elliott playing fields was dependent on pupils being able to use the Dover House Rd facility, given the massive reduction (41%) in playing fields after the sale to Barratt London (Putney Rise) which generated a large amount of CIL as well as a contribution to the Mayor's Fund for London. Here is the statement from WBC, sent to me by the BBC, read out to 9 million listeners on the Jeremy Vine Show in August 2012: "If people think that Elliott School is selling its playing fields, they are totally mistaken. Much of the land in question has been concreted over and is used as a car park, and for redundant buildings like the old caretaker's cottage. None of it is used for sports purposes. Pupils at the school play their team sports on grass pitches an another site that's a five minute walk from the school. Our proposals are designed to help raise the money to fund vital refurbishment work at the school so that children and young people in the area can have the modern education and learning facilities they deserve. There is no magic pot of money to pay for these works and without them the school faces an uncertain future". A totally misleading statement in every way. The land actually included six tennis/netball courts, a football pitch, and the school wildlife garden. There was a magic pot of money in the form of central government funding. WBC did not apply for this, and neither did they send a spokesman to the BBC. I was confronted with a chap from the Institute of Economic affairs, who knew nothing about the school, or the sale, who told me that "I wanted to have my cake and eat it". |