The Government has launched a consultation into removing Sport England from the list of organisations who must be consulted on planning applications in England. Women in Sport is concerned about the impact this will have on the pitches, playing fields and other open spaces that are crucial for women and girls to be active.#
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Carving out space for women and girls
For women’s sport in particular, now is not the time to be putting our playing fields and pitches at risk.
Women’s sport is growing. We are already seeing huge pressure on space and pitches, despite the good work that Sport England and others are doing, as more and more women and girls fight for space to play. Any loss of this space now would come at a critical moment, excluding more women and girls from sport and stunting the growth of one of the UK’s biggest success stories.
For all the successes of women’s sport in recent years, we know that huge gaps still exist:
- Women and girls’ teams account for just 12% of teams registered with the FA.
- In rugby union, there are 1,187 men’s rugby teams currently playing compared to 370 women’s.
- 62,300 women play cricket, compared to 294,000 men.
- Overall, 24% fewer girls than boys play any team sport.
These sports, like most sports, rely on access to pitches and playing fields for recreational sessions, training, matches and everything in between. How are we ever going to close these gender activity gaps if women and girls don’t have the space to play?
The importance of playing fields
Anything that removes access to open space to play from the places where people live and work will create an unnecessary barrier to people being active. This is especially true for women and girls, who are already less active than men and boys at every stage of their lives.
With other active environments that women and girls disproportionately rely on, such as leisure centres and swimming pools, under consistent financial pressure, we are in danger of making access to sport a privilege that many are excluded from.
Protecting these spaces, free or inexpensive to use and open to all, must be part of the planning process. Planning decisions can have a huge impact on women and girls’ lives.
Why Sport England’s role is important
Sport England are the only statutory consultee, meaning an organisation who must be consulted on planning applications, with the expertise and the experience to specifically protect spaces for sport and champion the opportunity for women and girls to be active. As a major funder of Women in Sport, we know how committed they are to driving positive change; their influence to do so is important and must not be taken away.
As the sports council for England, they have unique expertise and oversight that is vital if we are to protect our places to play. They have a national overview of supply and demand for different types of sports pitches, and they can spot emerging trends – such as the huge growth in women and girls’ football – and make sure planning decisions are taken that meet these needs as best as possible. There isn’t another organisation that can do this.
Sport England have had a formal role in the planning system since 1996; a role they were given to tackle the number of playing fields that had been lost to developers in the years before. They were a safeguard against national planning policies that were failing to protect places to play. If we remove that safeguard now, who’s to say that this pattern won’t repeat?
And, given Sport England object to 0.001% of the 360,000 applications they respond to each year, removing them from the system is unlikely to make any impact on the Government’s aim to build 1.5million homes, which is what these reforms aim to enable.
How you can help
Women in Sport will be responding to the consultation, using our voice to tell the Government to reconsider their plans and protect the playing fields that are so important for women and girls. You can help us by:
- Signing the petition, run by our friends at the Sports and Recreation Alliance, to make your voice heard: Do not remove Sport England as a statutory consultee for planning applications – Petitions
- Responding to the consultation yourself, especially questions 3-5. You can use the points made in this statement to shape your response: Respond here
- Writing to your MP to share your views. You can find your MP’s details here and some ideas for an email here.
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The next generation of Red Roses and Lionesses will be taking their first steps onto their local playing field as we speak. If we take that opportunity away from them, we are letting them down.
