Children sending message at protest against new games area at Sheffield school
Schoolchildren and concerned residents living close to a Sheffield school have made their feelings known about a proposed new games area which will see grass ripped up.
Dozens of children, their parents and residents living in the nearby streets of Ecclesall Primary School attended a peaceful protest against the plans for another, much bigger, multi-use games area (MUGA) on the school grounds.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported that Sheffield City Council’s planning officers sent the proposal to the planning committee for approval.
According to the submitted plans, the multi-use games area would be around 45 metres by 30 metres.
At the protest, children were holding up signs with various messages and chanting “save our field”, while residents and parents said they had not been consulted properly, although they had a number of issues with them.
Ann Blanchflower, a resident and one of the organisers of the demonstration, said she thought the MUGA was not child-friendly and did not support creative, free play.
She said: “It would take 50 per cent of the remaining green grass, we are really horrified by that thought because the children love that imaginative situation they have got, they love nature.
“We know the subsoil would be taken away so it will have a massive effect on biodiversity.”
She added the MUGA bothered her as a resident “but not as much as what the benefit is for the children”.
Ms Blanchflower said drainage was a huge issue and they have had flooding issues – she said some residents of Edale Road right below the school experienced flooding in the last couple of years.
When asked whether she had checked the plans, she said the plans did not show any detailed drainage at the moment.
She said they have tried to talk to the school “a lot of times, formally, informally, individually, as a group”.
However, Ms Blanchflowe added they were “a bit up against a brick wall”.
A parent and football coach, told the LDRS that the problem with the MUGA was that it’s too big and the fact that they were planning on ripping up all that grass to put down plastic sends “such a bad message to the next generation”.
“We’re a sporting family; grassroots football should be grassroots not plasticroots,” she added.
She said the car park at the school made up 17 per cent of the entire land and now the plan is to install more plastic instead of grass.
She said: “I think it’s scandalous in this day and age.”
Matt Dilley, a parent, added that according to the plans, the MUGA was going to be on the lowest part of the site and one of the conditions of the officers to approve it, the MUGA’s drainage should be connected to an attenuation tank.
However, he said, as the MUGA is at the lowest point of the site, drainage will have to be actively pumped.
He said: “So if that pump were to fail in a time of a heavy downpour…”
Mr Dilley said whether this works or not depends on the success of the drainage system “which has not yet been designed”.
Jason Leman, The Green Party’s candidate in Sheffield Hallam, said the problem with the MUGA is that there were alternatives and if you look at what is happening in Europe “they are phasing them out”.
Mr Leman said: “So we have this big plastic structure which covers over a natural green space, it means that water has to flow off it elsewhere… It sheds microplastic so it sheds pollutants into the environment, that is not a good thing, and over time it degrades more and more.”
He added that a grass field needs investment and maintenance but it’s much more beneficial to the environment.
He also added that the school “seems to forge ahead with this idea (MUGA)” without talking to the parents and children to find out what they really want.
Cllr Barabara Masters (Ecclesall, Liberal Democrats), who used to be on the council’s planning committee, told the LDRS that she was advising the group on planning legislation so that they were aware of “what can and cannot be considered”.
Cllr Masters: “The planning board is only there to apply the legislation, not to apply all of their personal preferences.”
She said she had concerns about the drainage, putting down an artificial surface “which means there is no microflora underneath it”.
Cllr Masters added: “They (the children) will be restricted to supervised play on a hard surface, come rain, come shine, summer or winter and that doesn’t develop all the children’s particular attributes and skills.”
The LDRS approached the school for a comment and we were told to look for a letter the school sent to the parents on June 2.
In that, the leaders of the school said: “Our thinking behind the MUGA has always been to provide the children with additional space on the part of the field to use for free play at break and lunchtimes all year round, as well as for organised activities in PE lessons and after school activities.
“We are conscious that, as a school, we have not communicated with families about this proposal recently. This is because there have been no new developments since our last letter (in October 2023) to give anyone since planning has been delayed multiple times.”
They added once the decision is taken by the planning committee, governors would consider the views from parents and carers and then any decisions reached would be communicated with the whole school community.
The proposal was meant to be discussed at this week’s (June 4) planning meeting but due to purdah, the proposal will be on the agenda after the election.