Residents urged to join in fight against housing on sports field

In March councillors unanimously rejected proposals by Barratt Homes Yorkshire to build up to 100 homes on the former Reckitts ground off Chamberlain Road after hearing impassioned pleas from residents.

But Barratt Homes has now appealed against the council’s refusal of planning permission.

To campaigners’ dismay, the Planning Inspectorate has agreed to Barratt’s request for the decision to be made on the basis of written submissions rather than holding an open public inquiry.

The privately-owned 17-acre sports field was once one of the top venues in the city for cricket and rugby, but for four years the gates have been padlocked and the grounds have fallen into disrepair.

Sub-postmaster Serji Singh, who has led the campaign, said he felt the plans should be heard in public, allowing local people the chance to air their feelings. Mr Singh, who runs Jackpot Wines in Chamberlain Road, said: “We are disappointed that a public inquiry won’t be held. We weren’t consulted and we are going to contact the Planning Inspectorate to voice our concerns. This is a major local issue.

“I know Barratt is a well-known brand, but within 10 to 15 years every green space in the city will be built on. Kingswood is the appropriate place for this kind of development.”

Mr Singh, who says he can put together a syndicate of local businesses who will buy the land and then apply for Lottery funding to bring the area back into use for all sports, believes he can get several thousand people to sign up to a new petition.

Barratt wants to build the homes on 2.95 hectares of the fields, where the bowling greens, tennis and netball courts used to be. The remaining 4.11 hectares would be left for two adult rugby pitches and two junior pitches and changing rooms, with the developer also donating funds towards changing facilities at Pelican Park about a mile away.

But Drypool councillor Adam Williams said many residents wanted the space left open: “When it came to the planning committee there must have been at least 50 members of the public and quite a lot spoke. This is a formerly public playing field which through no fault of the local populace has been fenced off and left in a state of disrepair. It is still quite an emotive issue for a lot of people.”

Planning manager Paul Butler from Barrett Homes, said: “As always we thought we had a scheme which hit national planning policy and local planning policy and we had support from Sport England. We also had significant support from 4,000 local people, in terms of future users of the site.”

Mr Butler said the land to be set aside for sports use would be transferred to Hull FC, and it would then issue a licence to Hull District Service Area, which manages amateur rugby league pitches in Hull.

Mr Butler said despite development land being available on Kingswood and other brownfield sites in Hull, there still was not enough to meet targets. He said the gates to the site were currently locked, adding: “We are restoring something into use for the good of the community.”

The Planning Inspectorate said it judged written submissions to be sufficient. Anyone wanting to comment on the appeal needs to send three copies to the Inspectorate at Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6PN, by July 22.

The ground, originally set aside for workers of Quaker philanthropist Sir James Reckitt, was sold to the Hull Brewery Company Ltd in 2000 for just under £200,000.

LAND MAY BECOME NATURE RESERVE

AN open space used as a pasture for eight centuries could be preserved for future generations as Hull’s first nature reserve, if proposals are approved by Hull Council’s Cabinet next week. Hull has no local nature reserves – well below Natural England’s recommendation of one hectare of local nature reserves per thousand population and it is hoped Rockford Fields will be a flagship site for the city.