Our chief executive Tim Hollingsworth has written to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee after giving oral evidence as part of the ‘Game On’ inquiry into community and school sport in June.
Here is Tim’s letter to the committee’s chair, Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, in full:
Dear Dame Caroline,
I’m writing to thank you and your fellow committee members for inviting me to provide oral evidence to the ‘Game On’ inquiry earlier this month.
I was grateful for the opportunity to share my analysis of the opportunities and challenges facing the sport and physical activity sector, before I step down as Sport England CEO at the end of July.
Throughout the session, I outlined the huge impact of sport and physical activity on the nation’s health, wellbeing, and community cohesion as well as children’s attendance, attainment and confidence in school. There is more to be done to ensure everyone across England can access these benefits. Collaboration across the sector is vital in achieving this but, crucially, cross-government working can and should be further embedded in this area.
Only by putting sport and physical activity at the heart of a prevention-first NHS, putting movement at the centre of every school day, and designing the places and spaces we live to encourage activity in people’s everyday lives, can we meaningfully harness the power of sport and physical activity.
New Sport England CEO
I’m pleased to share that since we met earlier this month Sport England has announced the appointment of its new CEO, Simon Hayes.
Simon, who is currently chief executive of HM Land Registry and chief land registrar, has a significant amount of Government experience and I’ve no doubt once in post will be a powerful advocate for the positive contribution sport and physical activity can play to our society.
He is due to take up this role in September, and our Executive Director of Partnerships, Phil Smith, will step in as interim CEO for the period after I leave at the end of July until Simon starts work.
Protection of playing fields
I’d like to highlight the challenge facing the future protection of playing fields. As you and your committee colleagues are likely aware, the Government recently announced a review of statutory planning consultees, and has signalled that Sport England could be among those facing removal of its status.
While Sport England is supportive of the Government’s growth and housebuilding agenda, there is a real concern here regarding ensuring the protection of playing fields. Sport England’s statutory consultee status means we must be consulted on planning applications that affect playing fields. Where we object, and land is in local authority ownership and/or school use (whether private or public), local planning authorities require Secretary of State approval to proceed against our objection.
Policy makers recognised that prior to this power being introduced in 1996, too many playing fields were being lost to development. Through the statutory consultee process, Sport England protects over 1,000 playing fields a year from development, and in turn safeguard places and spaces where people can be physically active.
Crucially, Sport England is not a blocker in the planning system.
- We don’t hold up the process – we respond to 98% of applications within 21 days.
- We don’t object unnecessarily – we don’t object in 70% of cases where statutory applications affect playing fields.
- We’re also consulted on relatively few statutory applications – around 1,200 per year compared to around 10,000 per year for the Environment Agency.
Without a specialist agency or statutory function to protect playing fields, there would be no meaningful backstop to prevent them being lost. Playing fields will inevitably be sold off as councils struggle to meet new housebuilding targets, while facing continued pressure on their finances. Once playing fields are gone, they’re gone forever.
I also want to flag possible unintended consequences of removing Sport England’s statutory consultee status. As touched on in my Game On session, and integral to our statutory planning function, Sport England is successful in providing opportunities to be physically active in connection with new development, such as opening more schools to community use. We also ensure every local authority has an up-to-date playing pitch strategy to plan for and deliver the sporting needs of its areas. Removing Sport England’s statutory consultee status is likely to also undermine these activities, and the extent to which Sport England is engaged.
We welcome the committee’s Game On inquiry and in particular the focus on facilities and engaging local communities. I’m sure you will appreciate that without spaces for people to play sport and be active – including playing fields – fewer will enjoy the many benefits of physical activity.
The next milestone in the Government’s plans will be MHCLG’s consultation, which we anticipate will be launched during or just before summer recess. We intend to respond to the consultation advocating for a refined statutory consultee role whereby a higher bar is set for our intervention or consultation. This will help to further streamline the process and prioritise applications with greater impact.
I plan to write to you with more detail following the launch of the consultation and our intended response. I would welcome support from the committee in safeguarding places and spaces for people to be active. I wish to make it clear that this is not about maintaining the status quo but ensuring that there is a meaningful backstop to ensure that playing fields continue to be protected.
Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to meet to discuss this further in the short-term. Otherwise, I will follow up when we have more detail.
Yours sincerely,
Tim Hollingsworth, Chief Executive