Plans for Community Playing Field Receive Boost

Plans by St Leonards Neighbourhood Association to maintain Mount Radford Lawn as a playing field were given a boost this week following a recommendation from the city council planning department to reject planning permission for housing on the site.

After an application from local developer Burrington Estates to build seven luxury houses (including one with a basement cinema, gym and sauna) on the field in August, the planning department received over 200 letters of objection.

The developer had hoped to win over the local community by retaining some of the site as landscaped parkland.  However, the planning department’s report noted that these parts of the development were inappropriately sited, preventing their use by nearby residents.  Public comments on the application also raised concerns that this would be privately owned and that there were no guarantees of public access.  The plan included some replacement parking spaces too but was missing a highway study so planners were unable to see how the new arrangement would affect traffic safety in the busy pick up and drop off area around the primary school.

In addition to the normal planning considerations, the development is situated in the St Leonards Conservation Area and therefore the application needed to preserve or enhance the character of the area.  Unfortunately the Heritage report judged that the plans would cause ‘harm' to the setting of important listed buildings in the area as well as breaking up the open space of the lawn itself.  This was the main reason for recommending rejection of the plan.

The second major grounds for refusal was that the development would result in the loss of a playing field and recreation area.  This is a national planning guideline and as a result Sports England were consulted about whether the ground was surplus and could be built on.  As a statutory consultee they objected to the development, finding that there is no excess of playing pitches in the catchment area.  

The playing field is currently owned by the Exeter Deaf Academy and Burrington Estates have taken out an option to buy it if the planning permission is granted.  However, the Sports England decision means that it would need to be sold as a playing field, rather than as a site for development. The neighbourhood association has being organising support for its plan for the field which includes changing facilities and a community meeting space.  Online and paper surveys gathered over 500 names in support of this vision.

The planning committee will meet to consider the recommendation and decide on the application at 5:30pm on Monday 28th October in the Rennes Room at the Civic Centre on Paris Street.