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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Setting the record straight on the Teddington school all weather pitch
February 19, 2007 4:27 PM
Statement by Cllr Stephen Knight: "Firstly, there are no "leaked documents" as Councillor Arbour claims.
In fact both the ecological report and the ecology officer's memo were
provided to Cllr Arbour on request by the Director of Environment. To
claim these were "leaked" when they were openly made available by the
council is simply a dishonest attempt at sensationalism. The second
factual error is that Cllr Arbour claims that the council "has applied
for planning permission" for an all-weather surface on the Langdon Park
pitch. This is similarly not true. We made it clear at the Cabinet
meeting on 15th January that we will not apply for planning permission
until we have properly consulted residents and had a chance to consider
the environmental impact of the proposal.
"We have always been committed to maintaining two all-weather pitches as
part of the re-building of Teddington School and sports centre and the
DfES funding was provided on this basis. In fact, Cllr Arbour was
leader of the then Conservative controlled council at the time this
proposal was first agreed. These pitches are extremely well used both
by the school and by numerous local sports teams, including Teddington
Hockey Club. Due to the constraints of the site, the new school
buildings will have to be built on one of the existing pitches and
therefore a replacement pitch is needed nearby, at least while the
building is in process, which will take about two years.
"We are looking at all possible sites for re-locating the Astroturf
pitch and the existing mown grass pitch at Langdon Park looked like a
good option. It has always been designated as a sports/recreation pitch
and is adjacent to the school. Our preliminary ecological report didn't
throw up any problems, but subsequent evidence has been presented about
badgers living nearby using the pitch for foraging.
"Clearly we will need to get proper advice on this issue and assess the
ecological impact of putting the all weather surface down at alternative
sites, such as the recreation ground before we decide how to proceed.
We have no intention of doing anything that will harm the viability of
the badger colony on the former Normansfield site."
Cllr Stephen Knight
Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources
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