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PITCH BATTLE IN PARK
Protesters set to march in fight against sports complex plan
HUNDREDS of protesters will march through Regent’s Park on Sunday in a last- ditch bid to scupper plans to build a five-a-side football complex near London Zoo.
BBC broadcaster Sue MacGregor, CBE, will lead the demonstration organised by the 1,200-strong Friends of Regent’s Park ahead of a crunch meeting on Thursday.
The powerful lobby group – backed by high profile figures including Geoffrey Robertson QC, Baron Claus Moser and Sir Simon Jenkins – is mobilising against an application that has drawn more objections to Westminster planning chiefs than ever before.
The Royal Parks Agency and Goals Soccer Centres development would see nine pitches, a fully licensed clubhouse and car park built on a popular meadow.
Friends group chairman Malcolm Kafetz said: “This development will destroy more than 60 trees, the habitat of bats, tawny owls and a haven of tranquillity, and transform it into a noisy flood-lit area of netting and artificial turf.”
He added: “We meet at the east side of the blue Hanover Island Bridge at 10.30am and will walk to Holford House for 11am.”
The Royal Parks Agency, which has increasingly been forced into using its green spaces for commercial gain after the government slashed its annual funding by £7 million, claims the development will benefit local schools.
Regent’s Park manager Nick Biddle said: “The proposal will bring 400 hours a week of sports to the local schools and will provide badly needed space for sport and exercise, including five-a-side football, Kwik Cricket, mini-hockey and touch rugby.
“Everyone is conscious about keeping kids healthy and out of trouble and this proposal will make a vital contribution to some of the less privileged sections of our community.
“There have been a lot of poorly informed rumours about the proposed sports facility but we remain hopeful that the planning process will see the health and community benefits brought by the new pitches.”
The majority of both Westminster and Camden councillors are opposing the plans, and last week accused the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and Labour MP for Regent’s Park Karen Buck, who are also now objecting to the scheme, of “jumping on the bandwagon”.
Lord Coe, who is heading the build-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games, is backing the scheme.
Privately, Westminster councillors fear that although the application is unwanted by the majority of local politicians and community leaders, it will be passed because it complies with planning regulations.
The application will be heard by planning officials in Westminster Council in City Hall, Victoria, on Thursday from 7pm. |
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