Today the government’s consultation on proposed changes to the statutory consultee system closes – this article outlines our response.
The reforms look to remove certain statutory consultees, including Sport England and The Gardens Trust, from the planning process, which would remove vital safeguards currently in place for thousands of playing fields and green spaces across England.
A statutory consultee is an organisation or body that is required by law to be consulted on planning applications. For example, Sport England is currently a statutory consultee on planning applications affecting playing fields, meaning they can provide insights and input into whether a planning application should be approved.
The government is proposing to remove this statutory consultee status from a number of organisations to speed up the planning process. We recognise the need for new affordable housing in England but this absolutely must not come at the expense of accessible green spaces that are essential to the health and wellbeing of local communities.
Below are some of the key points we included in our response to the consultation.
Playing fields are irreplaceable community assets; once lost, they are lost forever.
In 1996, Sport England was set up as a statutory consultee on applications affecting playing fields as a direct response to the loss of around 10,000 playing fields to development between 1979 and 1996. During this period, there was a complete reliance on planning policy to protect playing fields, which was clearly ineffective.
If Sport England’s statutory role is removed, there will – once again – be no guaranteed protection for playing fields. We cannot let history repeat itself.
The government suggests that Sport England’s role causes unnecessary delays to planning, but this is not backed up by evidence. Sport England responded to 99.2% of statutory planning consultation requests within the 21-day statutory period between 2024 and 2025.
It might be truer to say that the statutory consultee role prevents development at all costs – which is the very purpose of having it and why we are opposed to the reforms. Without specialist input, decisions made will risk severely harming grassroots sport facilities and reducing community access both now and in the future.
Our latest Green Space Index data found that almost half of Britain lives more than a ten-minute walk from a playing field, highlighting that we need to improve access, not take it away. Permanent legal protection of these spaces has never been so important; we must ensure playing fields are not lost forever.
According to data from Sport England, 94% of planning applications affecting playing fields have resulted in improved or safeguarded sports provision as a result of their statutory consultee role – without it, playing field provision in recent years would have declined further.
Our concerns are shared by 88 leading sporting figures and organisations who signed our recent open letter warning of the harms the proposed reforms could cause.
Access to playing fields contributes to physical health, mental wellbeing and social cohesion. Reducing access will only worsen many of the issues local and central government are already battling, such as rising obesity levels and a vast mental health crisis.
Disadvantaged communities often rely most on free-to-access green spaces. But these communities are already more vulnerable to losing green space, worsening health inequalities and reducing opportunities for young people, participation in sport and community cohesion.
Loss of sports facilities also affects schools and grassroots clubs, reducing opportunities for talent development and local economic benefits tied to sport.
Removing The Gardens Trust as a statutory consultee will weaken protections for historic gardens and designed landscapes. These spaces not only complement recreational land, they also contribute to biodiversity, wellbeing and cultural value.
Like playing fields, they are irreplaceable once lost.
As well as helping to protect these cultural assets. The Gardens Trust’s role as a statutory consultee also provides value for money. According to The Gardens Trust, if local planning authorities were required to properly consider historic park and garden-related applications themselves, it would be at an additional cost to the taxpayer.
We argue that it is not only playing fields, historic parks and gardens that should be afforded a layer of scrutiny in the planning process; statutory measures should apply to all local parks and playgrounds that are solely reliant on policy for their long-term future which the evidence tells us is woefully insufficient.
Current thresholds often exclude smaller but vital community spaces. But these are often the places where people learn to kick a ball, ride a bike or run – even modest green spaces deliver measurable health and wellbeing benefits.
We know nearly 6 million people live more than a ten-minute walk from a green space and since the pandemic, 226 playing fields have been lost to development despite the current policy and statutory consultee roles in place. Without statutory consultees, this will only get worse.
We know that many local planning authorities are unprepared to implement the significant changes to the planning system proposed. There is currently a lack of resources and training for local planning officers and a lack of in-house expertise – significant change will be needed if statutory consultees are lost.
Our Fields in Trust Standards could help local authorities tackle this gap. The Standards are well embedded in national policy and local guidance and provide detailed specialist guidance to planners and developers to navigate this area and deliver an outcome that works for everyone.
The Standards offer a solid starting point for mandatory training for local authority planning officers to assess the quality of proposed schemes and applications. Using the Standards as a benchmark for local authorities would ensure consistency across the country.
With these skills in place, local authority officers would be better equipped to make their own assessments and referrals to the statutory consultee could be reduced to more complex cases.
We are contacted weekly by community groups concerned about the threat to their local green spaces and continue to work with hundreds of local councils who are pre-emptively protecting these precious spaces as increasing threats from proposed planning reforms loom.
Without statutory consultees, our legal model will be the last independent line of defence to safeguard parks, playgrounds, playing fields and green spaces for future generations. Green spaces protected with us are legally protected in perpetuity, meaning they are protected forever.
Freely accessible parks, playgrounds, playing fields and green spaces are a lifeline to millions of people. Without them, communities will suffer.
While we do not yet know the outcome of the consultation, we hope the government will take our concerns – and those of other individuals and organisations – into account.