Louth 3G football pitch campaigners threaten legal action against East Lindsey District Council
Campaigners in Louth have threatened legal action against East Lindsey District Council if a controversial 3G football pitch is approved.
Residents have written to the council ahead of a planning meeting on Thursday (April 10), where officers have recommended approving the artificial grass pitch on the Wood Lane playing field.
They say, in the first instance, they will seek a judicial review of the planning process if the scheme is given the go-ahead.
The district council submitted a planning application for the pitch last July, with bosses maintaining it will help meet the town's current and future football needs.
It has since received more than 250 formal objections on the council’s planning portal. While most support the idea of a new pitch, they feel it is being considered in the wrong location.
James Timson, leader of the Save Wood Lane group, claims ELDC currently ranks 163rd out of 164 district councils in England for the percentage of residents who can walk to a large green space within 10 minutes of their home, based on data he analysed from Fields in Trust. He argues that if the 3G pitch is built on the playing fields next to the Meridian Leisure Centre, the district would drop to last place.
He said: "Despite overwhelming resistance to the loss of Wood Lane playing field, ELDC's planning officer has written a report, recommending the ELDC application for approval by the ELDC planning committee at the planning meeting on Thursday, April 10.
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"Save Wood Lane maintain that our local government should be expanding football facilities on new sites, protecting existing green space and amenity in the process.
"As a result, residents have written to the council to say they will take legal action in the event of an approval on Thursday. In the first instance, this would take the form of an application for a judicial review into the planning process. We believe this would reveal unlawfulness in the decision making process undertaken by ELDC, leading to an overturning of the decision.
"In the event of the 3G ever being built on Wood Lane Playing Field, residents would be forced into taking legal action to prove a statutory noise nuisance exists. It is very important that ELDC are aware of this now, as many 3G pitches in England have been built in the wrong place, leading to abatement notices and full or partial closures. This would be a disaster for the football community and local residents."
Commenting on the application, Community Beat Sergeant Kelly Palmer of the Wolds Neighbourhood Policing Team indicated that the development’s 4.5-metre-high solid wood fence could impact crime and antisocial behaviour in the immediate area.
She wrote: "The 100-metre fence which runs along the boundary with the railway line will create a dark 'alley' between the fence and the hedgerow.
The addition of fencing this size would create what I would describe as a “rat run” with this area being completely out of view of the public and police. This is of grave concern to me as it has real potential to become an area which breeds criminality and antisocial behaviour becoming a hotspot due to its concealed nature and therefore a health and safety risk to members of the public (particularly women and children) who may be using the leisure centre or indeed the 3G Pitch."
A spokesperson for ELDC responded: “The application is going to planning committee on Thursday with a recommendation to approve, with conditions. As it is still to be determined by the committee, we are unable to comment further until that process has taken place.”
