PF11

Legislation Committee No 1

Response to the consultation on the Proposed Playing Fields (Community Involvement in Disposal Decisions) (Wales) Measure

Lampeter Town Council (Mr Robert Phillips - Member)

I wish to give my support to the general principle of this proposed measure. I believe that playing fields are an important community resource, and while there is pressure on local government budgets, sale of assets to raise income will always be a consideration. This could mean that areas which have been used by the local community for decades could be lost without consultation.

I am a member of Lampeter Town Council, which is currently in negotiations with Ceredigion County Council to acquire a lease on the former playing fields of Ffynnonbedr Primary School. The school moved to a new site a number of years ago and the school site is being disposed of by Ceredigion.

We have been told that we will be offered a 3 year lease on the field but newspaper reports also say that at the end of this period Ceredigion aim to sell the site for development. Given the difficult budgetary situation, this is hardly surprising but the field has been well used by residents of the nearby Maesyderi Estate for a number of years. The school governors were aware of this use and were happy for it to continue. They even installed gates for ease of access.

During the campaign for the local elections in 2007, the fate of the fields was the main topic raised by residents on the Maesyderi and Penbryn estates. They were very concerned at the possible loss of the fields, especially in an estate that has a large number of children.

Lampeter also has very successful youth sports teams. There are currently not enough pitches for them all to play on so Ffynnonbedr fields could be for both structured sport and unstructured recreation.

They key provisions of the proposed measure would, I feel strengthen the community case for the retention of fields, as shown in the Lampeter example, where use has been made of them over a number of years and where current recreation facilities are not sufficient to meet the demand. I would therefore be in full support of such a measure.

Robert Phillips