School Playing Fields

You really get fed up with this Government. Year on year the same policy is being announced again and again as if it was new. They hope that the public will forget they announced it the first time.

The latest is the apparent ending of the sale of school playing fields. Now I expect a ton of mail saying the Conservatives started this policy - we did and it was wrong. It ws particularly wrong in London. It was not just wrong because it deprived children of access to sport but it also deprived communities of the opportunity to use the facilities that during the 70's and 80's were closed to those who lived near them.

As I said what really stinks about this Government is the fact that the minute Michael Howard criticises the ridiculous political correctness of not having competitive schools sports, Blair and Charles Clarke unveil (read 'rehash') a policy they were supposed to already have!

The 2001 Labour manifesto said:

We pledge a sports entitlement for all children, giving them access to at least two hours a week of sport in or after school. Thanks to our ban on the enforced sale of playing fields and a commitment of nearly £1 billion to new sports facilities and 1,000 school sports co-ordinators, all children will be offered coaching and competitive games. This is a pdf so only go if you really want to


A cynic could ask why if they had introduced a ban on the enforced sale of playing fields (prior to 2001) that the sales of fields have continued. See this Guardian report (Aug 2004)which says:

The association claims that since 1998, more than 200 field sales have gone ahead, with only six rejected through the vetting procedure.

This same report also quotes the Education secretary as saying he will offer the:

"toughest-ever protection for school playing fields".

I am no avid sports fanatic. I cycle quite a bit but that is really because it is often easier to get around Kingston by bike than run the gauntlet of traffic humps and menacing wardens. In fact at school I frankly disliked sport. I was never really into rugby and cross country running used to go down the dreaded "pig farm alley". Never did know why it was called that as there were no pigs! However, this nation is becoming less healthy, as are many developed nations across the world. To halt that we do need to provide the opportunity to access as many forms of sport and healthy sport advice. Now maybe that is not through having school sports fields but through sports facilities being built on school sports fields. But if that is the strategy then the Government should be honest and not pretend that merely offering bullet proof guarantees about the sanctity of school sports fields will really improve the health of the school population.

In any case, the only kids at my school who enjoyed going out on a school sports field in the freezing cold of winter were in my view slightly mad!! They were good friends but I still doubted their sanity!