Councillors push on with plan for lease at Spalding’s Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field
A solution to the ‘challenging’ issue of the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field could play a role in reviving Spalding town centre and reduce the burden on the taxpayer – according to councillors.
Members of South Holland District Council have now agreed to push on with plans to offer a lease on the Winfrey Avenue site for at least seven years – although stressed that other parties, as well as Spalding United, can apply for this.
It’s a move that they say could secure the future of the site and avoid residents footing the bill for improvements – in turn ending a problem that has persisted for more than 70 years.
Speaking at Tuesday night’s Performance Monitoring Panel, Coun Paul Redgate said if the Tulips did get the lease and were successful in improving the ground and playing at a higher level then it would ‘grow footfall’ for the town centre – a hot topic ever since the demise of Coneys.
The deal would also end any short term threat of a sell-off for a retail development – a prospect floated over a decade ago.
Coun Redgate told the meeting: “This safeguards that site for Spalding for the long term.”
Spalding United has said that the lack of a lease is holding back its ambitious plans to rise up the footballing pyramid – and ‘significant’ money from bodies such as the FA would be open to it if it had one according to the council.
A report for Tuesday’s meeting said Spalding United could have even faced demotion without an upgrade to the floodlights. Without a lease, the council itself would be faced with the £25,000 bill for this, a situation that left some members ‘unhappy’.
Coun Redgate stressed that whoever has the lease would have to make sure the site is open to public use – and said the trust would ‘still hold the keys’.
He added: “This has to remain a community-driven site, whatever happens. They have to make sure they make that facility open to the community at the appropriate time.”
The Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field was given to the town in the 1950s. It is a charity and the sole trustee is the district council.
The Charities Commission describes the charity’s asset as: “A playing field for the benefit of the inhabitants of the town of Spalding.”
Critics argue this mean the facility should not be fenced off as a football ground – but the clubs using it, which also include Pinchbeck United, have always stressed that it is open to other users.
Figures for 2021/22, the most recently available, show the field had an income of £2,900 and an expenditure of £33,775.
The committee agreed to put the plan to a vote of the full council at the end of this month.
What do you think? Is this the right move to secure the site? Post your comments below or email andrew.brookes@iliffepublishing.co.uk
