Agenda item

The application was for the erection of a new sports hall including changing facilities, cafe, first aid room and storage and an outdoor all weather sports pitch with associated fencing, floodlighting, landscaping and revised access routes utilising existing vehicular access from Bagshot Road (A319). (Additional information recv'd 13/7/18).

Members were advised of the following updates and the referenced appendix published with the supplementary agenda papers:

“Further appended evidence of interest from local sports clubs has been provided by the applicant including emails from Curley Park Rangers, Windlesham FC, Woking Cougars, Windlesham United, Bagshot FC and Valley End Cricket Club (Appendix I). 

The applicant states that the above constitutes a small number of the emails received requesting use of the school facilities, and other enquiries have also come through as telephone messages for further use of facilities for basketball, flood-lit tennis and netball - these requests vary from youth groups to local adult groups.

Officer comments

Condition 4 on page 21 requiring the submission of a Community Use Agreement (CUA) prior to commencement would secure the use of the proposal by these local groups. CUAs are widely used by Sport England and they provide a template CUA on their website. Typically such an agreement is signed by all parties and includes a Management Committee to develop the community use of the facilities; marketing strategy; affordable pricing arrangements; and, a monitoring and review mechanism.

Condition 4 is proposed to be re-worded as highlighted below, to clarify that it applies to both the AWP and the sports hall:

Use of the sports hall building and 3G rubber crumb pitch hereby approved shall not commence until a Community Use Agreement prepared in consultation with Sport England has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

The agreement shall apply to the 3G pitch facility and the sports hall building, and include details of pricing policy, hours of use, access by non-educational establishment users, management responsibilities and a mechanism for review. The development shall not be used otherwise than in strict compliance with the approved agreement.

The below advisory informative is also proposed to be added:

Guidance on preparing Community Use Agreements is available from Sport England: http://www.sportengland.org/planningapplications.

For artificial grass pitches it is recommended that you seek guidance from the Football Association/England Hockey/Rugby Football Union on pitch construction when determining the community use hours the artificial pitch can accommodate.”

Members wanted to ensure that the development maintained a focus on sports provision and not on commercial use. Consequently, a condition was added to the officer’s recommendation to prescribe that the proposed café remained ancillary in relation to the Sports Hall’s main sports use. 

The recommendation to approve the application was proposed by Councillor Mrs Vivienne Chapman and seconded by Councillor Jonathan Lytle. The recommendation was put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED that

              I.        Application 18/0632 be granted subject to the conditions set out in the officer report as amended;

            II.        With the final wording on the new condition be delegated to the Head of Regulatory in consultation with the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Planning Applications Committee; and

           III.        The application be referred to the Secretary of State due to a departure from the Development Plan.

Note 1

It was noted for the record that:

             I.       Councillor Victoria Wheeler declared that she was a member of a net ball club, which used the existing facilities and which had made an informal representation on the application.

            II.       Councillor Katia Malcaus Cooper declared that her children went to Barracudas Activity Day Camps held at Gordon’s School.

           III.       Councillor Alan McClafferty in his role as a Surrey Heath Borough Councillor spoke on the application and declared that he was a trustee of Gordon’s School.

Note 2

In accordance with Part 4, Section D, paragraph 18 of the Constitution, the voting in relation to the application was as follows:

Voting in favour of the recommendation to grant the application:

Councillors Mrs Vivienne Chapman, Surinder Gandhum, Edward Hawkins Paul Ilnicki, Jonathan Lytle, Katia Malcaus Cooper, Adrian Page, Robin Perry, Ian Sams, Pat Tedder, Victoria Wheeler, John Winterton and Valerie White.