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martin84
Original Poster
5,366 posts
22 months
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/aug/06/sc...Quite a scoop for the Guardian this one to be fair to them. Fantastic timing as well, for journalists this story is almost too perfect they couldn't have scripted it better. They get to put 'u turn on pledge' in with lines about contradicting claims of 'providing a legacy after the games' into the same story. What on earth are they playing at? Seriously. I know the last Government did this and it goes right back to Thatcher etc but how can this go on? How can they stand there and bang on about Olympic legacy - including ex Tory ministers going on about increasing focus on state school sports - and then do this?
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fid
2,372 posts
109 months
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How big are the playing fields? Ours was bloody massive.
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martin84
Original Poster
5,366 posts
22 months
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Big enough to be worth a few quid I would assume, or why bother selling them?
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Puggit
29,500 posts
117 months
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I'm not sure it's a scoop - more like they've kept their powder dry for just this occasion.
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davepoth
19,913 posts
68 months
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The Guardian said: Some of the playing fields are being disposed of after school closures. That's disingenuous to say the least. Berating the government for selling off playing fields, when "some" of them belong to schools with no pupils. How many is "some"? They give three examples; are the other 18 disused?
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martin84
Original Poster
5,366 posts
22 months
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Puggit said: I'm not sure it's a scoop - more like they've kept their powder dry for just this occasion. Wouldn't you do the same if you ran the Guardian?
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stevejh
592 posts
73 months
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Well apparently; 'under section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. School playing fields can be sold only if they are genuinely surplus, with all proceeds being used to improve sports or educational facilities.'
So it might be interesting to see the actual facts of these playing field sales although it's worth noting that Labour sold off 200 school playing fields whilst in power so I'm not sure how much notice of this Act either government has taken. Mind you, it is the law so presumably each case was thoroughly vetted.
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fid
2,372 posts
109 months
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martin84 said: Big enough to be worth a few quid I would assume, or why bother selling them? If it's surplus, sell it. Playing fields aren't free to maintain. Use the savings to improve sports funding. Gove 1, Guardian 0.
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stevejh
592 posts
73 months
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fid said: f it's surplus, sell it. Playing fields aren't free to maintain. Use the savings to improve sports funding. Gove 1, Guardian 0. Agreed.
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davepoth
19,913 posts
68 months
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martin84 said: Puggit said: I'm not sure it's a scoop - more like they've kept their powder dry for just this occasion. Wouldn't you do the same if you ran the Guardian? It would rather depend on how easy it was for another newspaper to make me look a fool by supplying the full detail.
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martin84
Original Poster
5,366 posts
22 months
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Well I just think it's depressing when these places get turned into chav filled housing estates.
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Steve Zodiac
314 posts
12 months
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martin84 said: Well I just think it's depressing when these places get turned into chav filled housing estates. Agreed, that's exactly what happened to my old school field, a clever bit of gerrymandering too as the new estate residents where unlikely to be voting for the conservative councillors up at our end of the borough anytime soon. Oh and the nice part is after the sale of the field the school kids were expected to go and do 'sports' lessons in the local dog s  t filled public park.
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turbobloke
55,489 posts
129 months
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fid said: martin84 said: Big enough to be worth a few quid I would assume, or why bother selling them? If it's surplus, sell it. Playing fields aren't free to maintain. Use the savings to improve sports funding. Gove 1, Guardian 0.  Unfair advantage though, The Guardian has special needs.
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Derek Smith
16,043 posts
117 months
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Puggit said: I'm not sure it's a scoop - more like they've kept their powder dry for just this occasion. I think that makes it a scoop. Not only this but, if you read the {i]Eye[/i] you will know of many parks and playing fields are being sold off for short term gain, including those dedicated to sports. There was one recently that had been given to the council to be used for the good of the youth of the area where the gates were locked and therefore, in the eyes of those wanting to sell it off, it was underused. Not that I'm suggesting any corruption with regards the sale of the plot of course. I think I with everyone else in believing how honest and dependable local authorities are. Dependable certainly when it comes to such things as this. In a way that makes it a scoop for the Eye as no one else runs such stories in the nationals. But that's because they don't really care. Most politicians only care when there's a vote in it for them.
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turbobloke
55,489 posts
129 months
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Unlike the past, when far more fields were sold including under Labour, isn't there a requirement now that all or some of the proceeds are used for sports or education facilities? As to under-use, that sounds like a superbly subjective and/or arbitrary measure that anybody could abuse, depending on what some desk jockey thinks the level of use should be or a comparison with the use of similar facilities but in a dissimilar context. There's a large playing field near here outside the boundary of a primary school field, recently fenced off for security/safeguarding/health reasons. It's probably under-used given that the only people there are dog walkers and anybody else would be risking their gift of toxocara canis to use it. One potentially beneficial use of large fields would be to build the necessary schools for an additional 1 million pupil places needed by 2020...and if there are remaining open spaces not full of dogs t that can be shared, even better.
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DJRC
19,831 posts
105 months
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Define surplus?
I must admit I struggle with the idea of why any school should have "surplus" playing fields. If you have them...bloody well use them!!!
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Jasandjules
45,408 posts
98 months
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DJRC said: Define surplus?
I must admit I struggle with the idea of why any school should have "surplus" playing fields. If you have them...bloody well use them!!! Exactly. We had a fantastic running area at my old school but no-one was allowed by the head to use it (except once we went and played rugby on it as the teacher was a temp and we convinced him it was ok). Used to play sports on the smaller area instead. Wonder if that was "surplus" to requirements.....
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BoRED S2upid
9,447 posts
109 months
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DJRC said: Define surplus?
I must admit I struggle with the idea of why any school should have "surplus" playing fields. If you have them...bloody well use them!!! Theres probably a formula more than a square meter per pupil is surplus.
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turbobloke
55,489 posts
129 months
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BoRED S2upid said: DJRC said: Define surplus?
I must admit I struggle with the idea of why any school should have "surplus" playing fields. If you have them...bloody well use them!!! Theres probably a formula more than a square meter per pupil is surplus. 2 sq m for each obese kid?
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BoRED S2upid
9,447 posts
109 months
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turbobloke said: BoRED S2upid said: DJRC said: Define surplus?
I must admit I struggle with the idea of why any school should have "surplus" playing fields. If you have them...bloody well use them!!! Theres probably a formula more than a square meter per pupil is surplus. 2 sq m for each obese kid? No they are exempt from the formula because they will be in the canteen at lunchtimes not running around on what limited grass is left.
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