Stompond Lane latest……..

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Please read our open letter to the local press which clearly states our position regarding the future of Stompond Lane Sports Ground.

Dear Sir,

Following the recent publication of plans for the creation of a new Sports Hub at Waterside Drive, Walton, a number of residents have asked what The Walton Society’s  stance is on the future use of the Stompond Lane Sports Ground. This coincides with members of the Council’s Task Group on this subject being asked to submit their suggestions for the future use of the site and their analysis of the various relevant issues. In the interests of transparency on this subject, I set out below a summary of my submission. It would be helpful, in my view, if other parties could set out their stance equally clearly.

Proposed Use

It needs to be used as a sports ground, which is what it was bought for. There exists a document in the Council’s files dated 17^th December 1934 and shown to me by a local resident, which states clearly that the land at Stompond Lane was purchased “for the purposes of cricket, football, games or other recreations”.

Continued use by one of the existing users, Walton and Hersham Football Club or Walton Athletics Club would obviously make sense, but equally the land could be used for informal recreation, ad hoc sports pitches, and the like, in the same way that land at Elm Grove Recreation Ground is used.

Legal Issues

Continued use of the land for sport or recreational purpose would avoid costly litigation and potential damage to the Council’s reputation for its investment in quality of life. Any other use of the land risks confrontation with the many members of the public who value this land as a part of the open space of Walton.

Planning Issues

Analysis of whether the land might be used for housing in one way or another needs to consider several important facts about Housing and Walton. The first of these is the Council’s SHLAA, Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment. This is updated periodically and the last update ( August 2011)  indicated that Walton had enough sites under construction, planning permissions not yet implemented and opportunity sites to meet the upper end of its Core Strategy Indicative Distribution Range without any reliance on any contribution from additional housing on the Stompond Lane  Sports Ground. Walton has already seen an above average contribution towards new housing in the Borough over the period 2006 to 2010 as evidenced by the chart on Page 11 of Annual Monitoring Report 2010 / 2011, which analyses the number of properties completed in 2006 / 2010 by Settlement Area.  According to this chart, Walton contributed 634 of the properties completed in this period out of a Borough total of 1879. As a percentage this is 33.7%, which compares to Walton comprising 18.5% of the electorate of Elmbridge as at March 1st 2012. There needs to be a recognition that the increased population of the town needs more recreation space, not less.

Affordable housing need.  It needs to be recognised that Walton has seen very substantial incremental affordable housing provision in the last few years, for example the 100 flats in The Heart, 33 flats at Colwell House,  42 houses and flats on Ambleside Avenue, to cite just the largest developments. There are also existing Planning Permissions for new affordable housing  ( 16 flats) on the Churchfield Road Industrial site ( now extant for almost 8 years!) We need to ensure that provision of new affordable housing is balanced across all the communities of Elmbridge, not just concentrated in a few areas.

Should there be a strong financial case for some housing development to redevelop sports and recreation facilities in the settlement area, then I believe it would be acceptable to build up to 10 houses on Stompond Lane which would be within the levels of the covenant, and in character with the rest of the road. This would be approximately the same number of houses as are on the opposite side of Stompond Lane, opposite the Sports Ground frontage onto that road. It would not be suitable for flats.

Community Benefit

There would be clear community benefit in keeping playing pitch provision on the Stompond Lane Sports Ground.  At the Open Meeting that we arranged on 30th November and which was addressed at some length by the Leader of the Council, there was a clear preference among attendees for keeping the Stompond Lane Sports Ground in use for that purpose, rather than allowing it to be moved to Waterside Drive.

Financial Benefit

This proposed use of the land would avoid unnecessary litigation and on a consensual basis is likely to lead to lower maintenance costs for the site as a whole. It avoids having to spend substantial sums on pitches at Waterside Drive.

Risks

The secretive manner in which this project has been pushed forward to date risks severely damaging the Council’s reputation for transparency in its dealings with local residents.

Chris Sadler
23rd April 2012