The continuing sell off of school playing fields in England

Paul Dancey on 18/08/2012

Despite pledging to protect school playing fields in England from developers, it has emerged that UK education secretary, Michael Gove, has approved 21 of the 22 requests to sell off school sports pitches in the two years since the coalition came to power.

The Minister was later forced to admit that he had made a mistake and that the true number of sell offs was actually 30.

According to the Guardian, Conservative led councils have actually been responsible for selling off six times as many playing fields as other parties – despite the government's promise to use the Olympics to create a sporting legacy for children.

Critics have been quick to point out that when in opposition Tory politicians happily described the sale of school playing fields as a betrayal of Labour's commitment to school sport, but when they came to power nothing changed. Indeed the UK Department for Education's own figures show that school sports fields continue to be sold off despite coalition ministers agreeing to "seek to protect school playing fields".

Culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has been forced to admit the provision of sport in schools is "patchy".

"I think at the moment school sport provision is patchy in some places, and we need to do what we can to make sure that the very best examples are spread throughout the whole country, and this is absolutely going to be a focus over the next few months and one of the things that we really want to take away from these Games," he said.

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