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MP and mayor step into park dispute
Livingstone and Buck join campaign against controversial proposals for five-a-side pitches
KAREN Buck and London Mayor Ken Livingstone have broken their silence over controversial proposals to build a five-a-side football complex in Regent’s Park.
Ms Buck, the Labour MP for Regent’s Park and Kensington North, and the Greater London Authority have written to Westminster Council to object to the plans to replace 75 trees on a public wooded meadow, known as the Holford House site, with nine pitches, a car park and fully licensed bar.
The application comes from the cash-strapped Royal Parks Agency and sports giant Goals Soccer Centres.
A spokeswoman for the mayor confirmed: “Greater London Authority staff have raised concerns that the development’s potential impact on the ecology of the park is contrary to the mayor’s London Plan. These concerns have been sent to Westminster Council.”
Ms Buck said the development, which would see around three acres concreted over, was too large.
She said: “I am not against five-a-side football, in fact I am very much in favour of it. What I am objecting to is the size of the application.”
Ms Buck has been asking questions in Parliament about the Royal Parks’ accounts and government pressure to use their land for commercial ventures.
Labour minister Margaret Hodge revealed in response: “The Parks must deliver greater value for money for the taxpayer through increased income generation.”
The government has increased the targets for revenue by 10 per cent each year and today’s figure stands at £7 million.
Ms Buck contacted the Friends of Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill to make them aware of her objection.
The group have long argued that the associated noise from footballers and late-night drinking would drive away rare bats and tawny owls from the utopian grove.
The Parks argue the pitches will be available to local schools at a discounted rate during the day and that there is proven need for the facilities.
A Parks spokesman said: “This is nothing to do with making money.”
The application is expected to be heard in City Hall, Victoria, on December 13. |
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