PLAYING FIELDRACE AGAINST TIME

14-11-2006

Dilly-dallying council officials have held up plans to protect a threatened Birmingham playing field for more than a year. Campaigners hoping to save the Ravenhurst site in Harborne now face a race against time to get it officially registered as a sports ground.

Ravenhurst is a prime nine acre site which was formerly used by St Philips Sixth Form College and Dixonians Rugby Club. It is also an inner city wildlife haven, giving a home to Muntjac deer and badgers.

The Stirrer revealed last month that after allowing it to fall into disuse its' owners, the Catholic Fathers of the Oratory on Hagley Road, were hoping to sell it for redevelopment.

We discovered that Sport England had even come to a secret arrangement with the house builder Wimpey which would see the vast majority of the land being built on.

It now emerges that efforts to save Ravenhurst were being made behind the scenes more than a year ago, but have faltered because of the slow pace of bureaucracy.

Cllr John Alden tells us that he asked for the field to be included in a definitive map of the city's sports facilities in early 2005, after discovering that it had been left out of a first draft.

We understand that the document called The Future of Birmingham's Sports Pitches has taken 18 months to produce.

“If it's is approved by the city's Cabinet, it then becomes supplementary planning guidance” explained Alden.

“That means that anything included in it becomes much more difficult to build on.”

The good news for local residents is that the plan is now due to be considered by Birmingham's cabinet later this month on 27 November, although it could yet be subject to further delay if membersreject itor need further information.

In the meantime, the urgency of the situation is underlined by the fact that Wimpey is already understood to be talking with planning officials about the scope for development on the site.

Alden is angry that council officers could be giving assistanceto people who want to destroy a much-loved local amenity.

He commented: “I think it's time we changed planning law. Loads of meetings are going on whichaffect people that elected councillors don't even know about.”

He is also concerned that if a planning application is put in before Ravenhurst is officially registered, its future will look bleak.

There's a public meeting tonight to discuss the future of Ravenhurst Playing Fields at Moorpool Hall in Harborne starting at 7pm. Local councillors including city leader Mike Whitby will be there.