Back field project

Statement as read at the start of the meeting held on 21 November 2024, on behalf of the Parish Council by Ruth Dawson-Jones (Chair). Thank you all for coming along this evening.

I’m aware that what has become known as ‘the Back Field Project’ potentially involving new sports pitches and an accompanying pavilion has been a topic of local focus over recent months, and we’re grateful for all the feedback received both via personal letters and the WhatsApp group.

I’d like to share some thoughts on the background to the project and also proposed next steps. But I want to start by recognising that it’s clear that we haven’t been as effective in our community engagement as some people would have liked. I would like to apologise for this and assure you that we have heard the concerns and are seeking to address these. I’d like to focus now on   how we can engage with you more effectively going forward and your views on this are, of course, verry welcome.  Here in Crowle we are at our best when we work together, and indeed are frequently the envy of other communities who cannot muster the enthusiasm and talents we have within our own.

I’d like to start with a bit of background. Given some of the comments received, there seems to be some misunderstandings about certain things and I would like to try and address these.

In October 2022, the parish council put out a notice to request ideas from parishioners for uses for the 6.3acre back field that had a 25-year lease due to end in September 2024. This field was part of the original conveyance of land from the Diocese of Worcester on which our current facilities sit, and has a covenant on it requiring it to be used for “recreation” purposes.

As a result of our request, three ideas were put forward and assessed:

1. A community orchard – this was an idea with no one stepping forward to look into the details of how this might work. Some research was done (including advice on practicalities) and it was deemed to not be a viable option
2. A community energy project – this was suggested and the options investigated. Shortly before the March 2024 public meeting, it was discovered that the electrical grid capacity was not currently sufficient to be able to support such a large connection and so this proposal was not in a position to move forward on that site at this time.
3. Additional sports pitches and community pavilion – The football club requested the provision of additional pitches and a pavilion to enable them to offer better facilities to their members and encourage girls’ football in particular. During the presentation, a letter from the school was shown supporting the project as it would provide for regular school sports activities in an area that is able to meet their safeguarding obligations; also the Table Tennis Club who could see that they were likely to want a space for league matches. 

How this assessment would be done was agreed at a parish council meeting to ensure all factors were properly considered. It required the provision of information in an agreed template about the proposal, including details about who would lead or be involved in the project, financial and other risk considerations and the proposed benefits.

The parish council held a public meeting in March 2024 to share outline details with parishioners on the two proposals we had received and seek initial feedback. An informal show of hands was taken on the projects to indicate to the parish council the general feelings of parishioners. There were attendees from the football club as well as other interested parties. Not all attendees were parishioners, so we split the room into who was and was not and used the parishioner tally as the main indicator. The majority of parishioners, which we recognise did include football club members and others, supported the outline proposals, which was a helpful signpost in terms of the need for further investigations into project viability and what would potentially be involved, including funding.

The information from this meeting was published on the parish council website, including a Q&A giving as much detail as was possible at the time; some information was put on our noticeboards and updates have been provided in the Cryer and regularly at parish council meetings since. Details have been shared on local WhatsApp groups too.

At the April parish council meeting, two members of the public attended but no questions were asked.  The council voted whether or not to grant a lease to the football club to enable the necessary investigations around the project to continue. Given the feedback from the meeting and with consideration given to the handful of correspondence received in the interim, it was agreed to formally offer a lease to the Crowle Searchers Football Club but subject to some important conditions. These were:

1. Lease heads of terms and usage agreements being agreed by both parties;
2. Carrying out further consultation with the community over the detailed plans for the pavilion building, car parking, access etc in order to address any concerns ahead of, and during, the planning application consultation process.

The conditional offer of a lease was requested to enable the football club to have some certainty that it was worth them putting time and energy into developing the project proposals further. Contrary to some comments, whilst a lot of detailed investigation has been needed to examine potential viability, this is not a “done deal”. Robert Moore and Stephen Denne, who along with others, successfully delivered the Wellbeing project including the new Platinum Hall, have been working with the football club to get clarity on what may be required and how various elements of the project could be funded and delivered, with regular updates provided to the Parish Council who have been involved in reviewing details as they have unfolded. This has been ongoing since April, resulting in a presentation by the project team and some community groups last week to the parish council and the parish hall trust. These community groups comprised the Scout Group, the First School, the Young Farmers and the Table Tennis Club as well as the Football Club, and they set out their needs and ambitions which embrace a wide spectrum including:

• well-established but need support to be sustainable
• seeking help to rebuild, and
• simply needing more space

It was clear that the project could in fact make virtually everything they sought a reality, with minimal cost to the parish.

At Parish Council meetings over recent months, we have confirmed that a public meeting would clearly help to share proposals effectively and would indeed be held. However, from the parish council perspective, if the project could not be funded effectively, then it could not go ahead. Only when that position was clearer – including in particular financial and other contractual terms acceptable to all parties – was it appropriate to hold another consultation meeting with parishioners. We will announce next steps in that regard as soon as possible, but I must advise you that investigations are still ongoing.

The feedback we have received from parishioners so far has resulted in further investigations and assessments. These have included, but are not necessarily limited to, assessment of:

• What use could other community groups/individuals make of this land if the current proposal went ahead e.g. sports pitches, a pavilion and parking?
• What are the specific requirements for the facilities from various bodies to secure funding?
• The number of cars who may require access to the site and parking, particularly on a Saturday morning when the football club use the field and other groups are booked in the halls.
• How vehicles could safely access the back field site if a pavilion was built
• Lighting, security and safety issues

We fully understand there are some important issues being raised by some parishioners and we are looking into all of those received. We have a duty to balance the views and needs of everyone in the parish with the decisions we make and a decision around something like this will not be taken lightly or quickly. At this stage, just to be clear, we have committed to take things further with the project ONLY if certain conditions are met as I outlined a few moments ago. We have not yet finalised any of these elements and are listening to those who have concerns as well as those who support the project.

Consultation on this project has not yet concluded, and for those who were here at our previous meetings, as I mentioned earlier you would have heard that we have already committed to holding a further public meeting to ensure that everyone feels properly consulted. We have not been in a position to do this yet as proposals around scope and viability of the project are still being developed by willing volunteers, especially the key areas of financials and contractuals. We have had people raise suggestions of a bike track (on which we’ll be saying more in a few minutes) and dog walking area and are considering how such facilities could be provided and where may be appropriate for them, plus how they might be funded and delivered.

I wanted to end this update with answering a few questions that have come up:

If the football club have a lease, will they be the only ones able to use the site?

No. Any lease granted to the football club does not mean that other people cannot use the site. The usage and access for the site would be agreed as part of the terms and we would be seeking legal advice to ensure that it works for all parties. It may be that a lease to the football club is not the best option, but we are still investigating this. It is the parish council’s intention that whatever legal arrangement we enter in to with regards to the site, that it will be available for wider community use, not a private space reserved only for the football club.

Let me make an important point here. Fundamentally, the football club involvement would enable the parish to access significant funding that is not available for other projects currently. There is an expectation from funding bodies that they will be a party to any agreements and will have obligations to deliver certain things that the parish council could not themselves assure in relation not only to sports but a wide range of community activities. However, from a practical perspective, the football club would book the field space as they do with the Jubilee field currently only when they needed it, and the green space and pavilion would be available to other user groups.

I mentioned earlier the community groups who would wish to be part of the project. Currently, it’s envisaged that the Scouts could use it for camping, games, digging holes and making fires and for storing their equipment, Young Farmers could use it as a base for their meetings given limited space in our other halls and tug-of-war practice, and other games and activities on the grassed area,  the School could use it for their weekly PE and sports days, and the Table Tennis Club would welcome more space. I do not intend to go into any further details of this here as that would be shared as part of the public consultation we have and you can then hear directly from those groups yourselves.

Can’t we use the S106 money for something else?

S106 funds are a requirement of any housing development where there will be open market properties. The funds are allocated to specific activities by Wychavon District Council; the parish council is not consulted nor has any influence on what the funds can be used for, although we have argued that we should be. The funds are allocated based on the strategic focus on Wychavon District Council, which at this time is all sports based. We have previously had small funds that could be allocated to the Arts and other parishes outside Wychavon have been able to use funds for other purposes. However, the current main funding pots for S106 are for “formal sport” and “built leisure”. The formal sport description only covers cricket, hockey, rugby and football. Out of those, there are sufficient facilities locally for cricket at Himbleton, there is the new International hockey centre in Perdiswell (with the necessary artificial turf) and there are rugby w facilities at Sixways, Droitwich and Pershore. This leaves football as the only sport that would qualify for these pots in our location.

There is however some potential funding allocation under ‘General and Play’ provisions, which has greater flexibility, and we will share details of this as and when we know more about these.

Is the site intended to be locked?

Yes. There is currently no access to the site from the parish council side, so we would need to create a new access through the hedge bordering the new allotments/market garden area. There are no rights of way over the field, and it has been tenant access only for the last 25 years. Only people who book the facilities will be able to access them. The limited access is to help with safeguarding, which supports the school and other community groups involving young people. It will also help to keep the pitches clean of dog poo, which, let’s be clear, is not just unpleasant but a significant health hazard and an ongoing issue on the main field currently, despite our best efforts – every playing week, the football club undertakes a sweep of the fields, to supplement the regular efforts of the PC’s Field Manager. Many dog owners do not follow the rules on the Jubilee field and do not keep their dogs on a lead. They do not always clean up after them and this is a significant issue for everyone, especially kids, using the field.

Why can’t the pavilion be closer to the existing halls?

The football foundation requirements state that there must be toilet and changing facilities within close proximity of any new sports pitches they invest in that are planned to be used for girls’ football, as here, and the existing facilities are considered to be too far away.

There are still some outstanding questions from the recent correspondence we have received that I have not replied to here; some because we do not yet have an answers and others because we simply have not yet had time to do so. Some of you have recognised in your correspondence that the PC and those working on the project proposals are all volunteers. We fit in these activities to support our community around work, family and other commitments, so time is limited, and things may not always progress as quickly as some parties may like. However, we will do our best to answer these queries as soon as possible. With all that in mind, we shall be reaching out for help from the community for any projects that you’d like us to move ahead with.

There has been a lot of work going on since the March meeting to better understand the potential scale, scope and practicalities of the proposed project and we have been listening to the concerns raised and factoring those in to the proposed plans where possible. Full details of the updated proposals are better shared as part of a proper consultation meeting where we will give notice so people can choose to attend or let their thoughts be known if unable to attend.

In summary, no final decisions have been taken on the proposals and we have no plans to do so without consulting further with parishioners. The funding sources we are currently aware of are only available for the development of sports pitches, and the only viable sport in Crowle is football. However, using this funding potentially enables other improvements to be delivered to support the project that we would not otherwise be able to do; an important point is that the prospect of securing funding from the football foundation is actually enhanced if other community activities are supported, as is potentially the case here. The parish council have listened to the concerns raised as well as the needs of those who are supportive of the project, which is not just the football club, and will continue to do so to inform any final decisions. The proposals represent a potential half a million pounds of investment into facilities for our community and we have a duty to ensure we fully consider many factors before making a final decision.

Thank you for your attention. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have, but I would also like a quick indication of the level of support for arranging the public consultation that I’ve mentioned.

We plan to publish this statement so it can be shared with others who were not able to attend today.