Protect Sussex’s playing fields – urgent request

The Government is consulting on removing Sport England’s statutory role in planning decisions.

This change will substantially alter how playing fields are protected and may have significant consequences for grassroots sport.

In doing so, the excellent record of Sport England, in advising councils, resolving quality and quantity issues in a timely and practical way, has been overlooked.

Sport England, with local input from Active Sussex, has helped thousands of clubs and communities to have the facilities they need.

Here’s why this matters:

✅ Playing fields at risk – When this protection didn’t exist (from 1979–1996), around 10,000 playing fields were lost. In Sussex, where green space is already under pressure, this could mean fewer places for children and adults to be active.

✅ Decline in planning quality – Expert input from Sport England ensures decisions protect and enhance grassroots facilities. Removing this role places at risk community access and the quality of local sport infrastructure, including pitches and courts that local clubs rely on.

✅ Increased burden on councils – West Sussex, East Sussex and Brighton & Hove local authority planning teams are already stretched and there is no proposal to strengthen their resources should Sport England’s role be passed to them. Removing Sport England’s role adds pressure and reduces oversight of public infrastructure.

✅ Loss of monitoring and protection – Without consultation rights, Sport England cannot track trends or safeguard playing fields effectively.

Although often seen as a technical matter, ensuring new developments maintain or provide additional quantity of playing pitches and other facilities that enable our communities to be active is essential for long-term health and wellbeing.

We encourage all our partners, both individuals and organisations, to complete the consultation and share it widely within their networks, it’s important that the sport and physical activity sector speak up and have their voice heard at this important time so that we can protect the spaces that support communities to move more.

The consultation can be found here, and closes on January 13, the number of responses will be important in how the Government reacts.

Other ways you can help:

Support the SRA campaign – read more about the Protect Where You Play campaign and sign its online petition SRA research shows that playing fields and pitches deliver at least £2bn in improved wellbeing every year and help four million people to be active, including one million children.

Write to your local MP – explain how you use your local opening spaces and what it would mean if they were lost for you and your community.