Dear Parish/Town Councils,

Consultation on the Draft Swindon Playing Pitch Strategy

Swindon Borough Council is consulting on its draft Playing Pitch Strategy and associated documents and would like the views on the strategy from stakeholders, partners and any interested persons or organisations.

The consultation will run from Wednesday 30th August until Wednesday 11th October.

The strategy is based on the Sport England ‘Playing Pitch Strategy Guidance’ produced in 2013 and has been informed by responses to earlier targeted consultation with sports clubs/teams, Parish and Town Councils, Schools, and other pitch providers.

The strategy focuses on football, rugby union, cricket and hockey pitches (both grass and artificial) and also provides a brief assessment of the needs of other, less played sports of rugby league, American football and softball. Its development has been shaped and overseen by a steering group formed of the Borough Council, sports governing bodies, Wiltshire and Swindon Sports Partnership, Swindon Sports Forum, and Sport England.

The PPS plays a number of important roles in sport, leisure and planning terms. At its basic level, the PPS provides an audit of the quality, quantity and accessibility of playing pitches, establishes the current levels of demand (and therefore whether pitches are being over or under used) and projects forward demand likely to arise by the end of the strategy period so that the appropriate level of pitch provision can be planned for the future.

In particular, the Council welcomes your views in order to help to inform and confirm the strategy’s direction of travel, identify any issues missed and supplement or update information since the data was gathered.

It should be noted, however, that the strategy is based on data and information collected over a 16 month period. Any changes in data identified will only be updated further at this stage if they would mean a fundamental change to the conclusions overall for that sport or pitch type. The use of pitches and issues of concern can change from season to season and so some flexibility in the interpretation of results at the pitch specific level will be required, something which will need to be acknowledged as the strategy is delivered and as solutions are identified. This is one of the reasons why the strategy cannot provide a blueprint for change but instead focuses on key actions and options for change to improve the quality of provision and respond appropriately to changes in demand to 2021.

How to view the consultation documents

The strategy and other associated documents for consultation are available via egress switch, the Council’s secure file transfer system for sharing large/multiple documents. You will receive a separate email from me shortly via egress switch with the link to the files, where you can log in with your email to view all of the documents.

If you would prefer to view a hard copy please call (01793) 446513, or e-mail forwardplanning@swindon.gov.uk and a paper copy can be made available to view at the Council Offices, Wat Tyler House, Beckhampton Street, Swindon SN1 2JH. However, please be aware that there are a number of large documents, and therefore you are encouraged to view online via egress switch if you can.

How to comment on the consultation documents

We welcome your comments in writing by 5pm on Wednesday 11th October 2017 via the following means:

• by email using the representation form available via egress switch and returned to forwardplanning@swindon.gov.uk (you are encouraged to respond in this way if you can, to assist the council in managing the representations received); or
• by post in writing to: Forward Planning, Swindon Borough Council, 5th Floor Wat Tyler West, Beckhampton Street, Swindon, SN1 2JH.

For further information please contact Amy Colbran, Planning Policy on 01793 466442 or email acolbran@swindon.gov.uk

Kind Regards,

Amy Colbran
Planner (Planning Policy)

Swindon Borough Council
5th Floor, Wat Tyler House, Beckhampton Street, Swindon, SN1 2JH.

Tel: 01793 46 6442

Email: acolbran@swindon.gov.uk

NOTE: Swindon Borough Council has an adopted and published Community Infrastructure Levy Charging Schedule. The Charging Schedule becomes effective from 6th April 2015. For information on how this may affect your development proposal please visit www.swindon.gov.uk/cil