Westminster hopeful wants to stop development of 5 a side pitches
Mary Macleod, the prospective Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, has met with local residents in Oaklands Avenue, to discuss their concerns about plans for redevelopment of the Centaurs Sports Ground.
Centaurs comprises four normal size football or rugby pitches, with a pavilion in the centre of the ground. Recently, the facilities have deteriorated with no-one maintaining the perimeter fence, taking care of the grass or looking after the pavilion. Local residents are keen to see the area improved and used as a community sporting facility, as it has been in the past.
Goals, however, have put in a proposal for developing several football pitches, with high density 14 hour a day playing, with an increased use of flood lights. They have other sites around London, which are typically situated in non-residential areas.
Mary Macleod says that local residents are against these plans as it would affect their quality of life, including intolerable levels of noise, light, traffic pollution and traffic congestion. There may be disturbance in the evenings up to 11pm and the expanse of green grass will disappear and be changed into several caged all-weather pitches. They believe that the current planning application by Goals, appears to be proposing a dramatic change of usage to this metropolitan open land.
Mary was very supportive of the local residents and said, “The Goals’ proposal does not seem to be the right solution for a community, sporting facility which local people will benefit from. We definitely want to encourage involvement in sport and Centaurs needs to be recreated into what it once was. I am happy to help local residents return Centaurs to its former glory, by gathering up litter and painting over the graffiti. We must save our open, green spaces in London and ensure that residents have a quality of life.”
Goals claim to be the UK's premier provider of 5 a side pitches and have centres dotted around the UK.
May 23, 2008
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