New Petition
Planning (Playing Fields and Open Spaces) (PE1250)
I invite Mel Spence to approach the table. We have a challenge for him. I know how he must feel—he has injured his back and, for the first time ever, a petitioner will address the committee in a standing position. He is like my granddad standing in front of the fireplace, telling me off. Actually, that occurred only once or twice, in what was a turbulent childhood—trust me. I know that the traffic made it difficult for you to get here on time, Mel. I appreciate that you have managed to make your way to the Parliament.
PE1250 urges additional measures—if necessary, legislative—to be taken to enforce existing planning policy and guidance, such as Scottish planning policy 11, to ensure that robust sanctions are in place to prevent local authorities from proceeding with developments on land that is currently used as playing fields or open space. I also welcome Christine Grahame MSP, who has expressed an interest in the petition.
I should declare that I am a board member of the National Playing Fields Association, which is now known as Fields in Trust, or FIT Scotland. The issue is one that I have raised in parliamentary questions.
I hope that you did not get your injury running about in an open space, Mel. I invite you to begin your contribution. If you feel uncomfortable at any time, just tell us, and we will try to deal with that.
I apologise for being a peedie bit late getting here. There was a bit of difficulty with the traffic. I managed to get here, anyway.
If I may, I will use the case of Cuiken primary school in Penicuik as an example to illustrate the wider problem that we face. The school is being replaced on its current site—a new, publicly funded school is being built on the site of the current primary school. At the risk of sounding like a lawyer, I note that within the curtilage of the current school is a full-size playing field, which Midlothian Council has decided is surplus to requirements for the new primary school. Although the new primary school is being built in exactly the same place as the current one, it will have no playing field in future.
Just last week, the parent-teacher council had a meeting with the head of the council's education department at which, among other things, the necessity for young people to have an active lifestyle at school and the importance of physical education were discussed. The head of the department segued into saying that, at the end of the current school term, the playing field would no longer be accessible to the primary school kids and would be fenced off.
Cuiken is just the first primary school in Penicuik that will face this problem. A second primary school, at Eastfield, was closed and demolished, and a new primary school was built in what is effectively an industrial estate. The old school had a full-size playing field, and that site will shortly come up for disposal. Exactly the same problem of loss of playing field amenity will be faced in a town where, as the council acknowledges, there is already a shortage of playing fields. Midlothian's own "One Team—One Vision" strategy report says that the area is short of playing fields.
We have followed the process, and we, the community council, the parents and sportscotland have all objected, in accordance with paragraph 46 of Scottish planning policy 11, which deals with the various requirements and provisions that need to be put in place if people wish to build on playing fields.
I ask the committee to consider the consultative draft of the new consolidated Scottish planning policies under the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006. There is an opportunity for the language, at the very least, to be strengthened. At the moment, the draft that is doing the rounds is pretty much a verbatim lift of the relevant paragraph in SPP 11.
The current policy is obviously not working—if it was, I would not be speaking to you about it. There is a presumption that people should not build on school playing fields, yet it still happens, and it has been happening for 25 or 30 years. I accept that the trend is declining, but the cynical side of me says that that is simply because there are fewer playing fields left for people to build on. We need to stop it. Kids are not getting fitter—they are getting less fit. Outcomes from single outcome agreements address the question of people having more active lifestyles, but how can we possibly attain those outcomes if we do not give the kids somewhere to have proper physical education while they are at school?
Fantastic—well done. That was a long shift to be standing. Does Christine Grahame want to add anything?
Yes. I got involved with the petition as MSP for the area, but I am also interested in it as the convener of the Health and Sport Committee. I think that Robin Harper and the Greens, as well as the convener, have raised the point about the loss of open spaces and playing fields over the Parliament's lifespan.
It seems extraordinary that at a time when we are facing an obesity epidemic and when type 2 diabetes is appearing in our children—which never used to happen, or was at least extremely rare—we are looking at removing playing fields that are immediately adjacent to schools. Children can spill out of the classroom on to the fields and do sporting and physical activities. However, if the playing fields are removed, we will have to transport the children elsewhere, which will take up staff time and eat into the weekly two-hour target for physical education. That seems absolutely ludicrous.
For councils to remove playing fields flies in the face of everything that the policy of both the current and previous Governments aims to do for children who lead such sedentary lifestyles. Gone are the days when Robin Harper and I—not together, but individually—climbed trees and ran about from dawn until dusk. We did not sit in front of a computer having an internet experience of activity; our experience was genuine. We did not know that we were doing two hours of physical activity—but we were, and more. The issue is serious.
The convener will be well aware of the Health and Sport Committee report that has just come out, in which we wrote of our concern about the lack of amenities for delivering sporting activity. We are concerned that most, or many, schools are not delivering two hours of PE a week. When it comes to physical literacy—catching balls, balancing and jumping from one foot to another—our children are not able to do the things that came automatically to us when we were playing peevers and skipping. Perhaps Robin Harper did not play peevers or skip, but it is a serious point.
Mel Spence will tell me if I am wrong, but I do not think that the council told sportscotland about the situation until there was a hoo-hah in the local papers. A gesture was made to sportscotland, but there were no real teeth in it.
The Health and Sport Committee report identifies a number of those issues. Mel Spence may not have had a chance to look at it but he will find in there strong comments about trying to deal with those problems.
The review of planning policy offers an opportunity. In its final months, the former Executive explored a consultation, but there has been a transition period between Administrations to consider. To be blunt, although there was a direction of travel under the former Executive, the information that it gathered has not been transmitted effectively enough to the present Executive. There is no real difference between the parties on the issue of trying to protect playing fields; we just have to make the legislation work. We are conscious of that. Although we broadly support the petition, we want to know how best to take it forward on the petitioner's behalf.
Every member sitting round the table could cite examples of local authorities that have tried to dispose of playing fields. I was involved in such a case last year. It was not that the local authority was going to sell the land; the authority was transposing an education establishment on to playing field land that provided opportunities for a range of sporting activities such as football, Irish football and hockey.
When councils consider selling off land or using it differently, they must think about its current use and how it will be used in the future. Local authorities throughout Scotland are using the current planning regulations to make alternative proposals, particularly where they own the land. Councils are supposed to bring such cases back to the Government to get final planning consent to move forward, but given that they are getting consents to build on existing sports fields, there must be a tacit agreement by ministers in the Scottish Government to allow them to go ahead. Many authorities take that as permission to dispose of land that is currently used for sporting activities.
It is incumbent on us to write to the Scottish Government to ask how it will strengthen the current planning regulations to ensure that where there is a clear demand for sporting activities on green-belt land, the local authority should be instructed to reconsider any proposals for the use of that land.
Christine Grahame and the convener spoke about young people's lifestyles. If we continue to strip away opportunities for sporting activities, we will create further problems in the future. At some stage, we must take a stand and say that enough is enough. We need to retain the activities that take place on playing fields; if we continue to strip playing fields away, we will lose those activities. We have just debated a petition on the creation of team Great Britain. If we continue to lose football pitches at the current rate, we will not have to worry about team GB, because we will not have a team Scotland.
If my memory serves me correctly, somewhere in the region of 100 football pitches disappeared from Scotland in the first four years of the Parliament's existence. Not only football pitches are going—we are losing general play or amenity space, which is not defined as such but which is used by communities and children for the purposes of play and general recreation. Some of that space does not have the specific protection that one would like it to have.
This is an enormously important issue. The Government should be encouraged to review what has happened to formal and informal play space in the 32 local authorities over the past 10 years; the picture may be fairly grim. That trend in the wrong direction, which was identified a long time ago, must be stopped. Little has happened during our time in Parliament to arrest it.
The petitioner will sense from members' comments that the committee is strongly willing to assist him. We know that Scottish ministers will have to make decisions on the issue at some time in the near future, so let us try to influence the debate. The Health and Sport Committee report is helpful; the petition has been submitted at a propitious time.
How do we wish to progress the petition? There are a number of issues that we need to raise directly with the Scottish Government and with other agencies. I note with interest the suggestion that we examine a cross-section of local authorities, including that of the petitioner. We should look at a combination of authorities, including a city authority and authorities that have engaged in substantial changes to their school estate in recent years. We have identified two or three such authorities.
Missing from the clerk's paper is a reference to sportscotland, which must be consulted. We should refer to the evidence that it gave to the Health and Sport Committee. It would also be worth while for us to contact FIT Scotland—in which I have declared an interest—which is working actively with other partners to retain exactly the type of playing fields and recreational areas that the petitioner has identified.
I suggest that we write to South Lanarkshire Council. I remember that a couple of years ago there was an issue with the council creating playing areas that consisted of a tarmac-like substance painted green to look like grass. It might be interesting for us to include South Lanarkshire Council on the list of local authorities to which we write.
The Health and Sport Committee is pitching for a debate on its "Pathways into sport and physical activity" inquiry report. We would be delighted if members of the Public Petitions Committee who have made statements today about the activities that take place on playing fields were to take part in that debate. It is a very important issue for the coming generation.
Is there any way in which the committee can contribute to the consultation that closes on 24 June? Can we send in our deliberations?
Yes, we can do that.
The petitioner specifically requested the strengthening of planning policy.
I hope that those suggestions are helpful. Mel Spence is standing there, asking himself, "What have I done wrong?" Essentially, we want to get the process right, and the petition has come at a good time because we can also pursue it through a parliamentary debate. You are welcome to return to the Parliament when the debate is held. Your petition will also come back to the committee. We will try to ensure that there are minimal problems with the traffic in future. Thank you for your patience.
Thanks very much, convener.