Despite the river running through the town and the greenery along its banks, and the public gardens at Ayscoughfee Hall, Spalding has long been short of publicly accessible green space. That is why when it appears that any of the green space that there is in the town is under threat from development, we have more than once intervened in order to protect that space. Here we set out those interventions. Of course it has not only been ourselves, others such as local residents an local councillors, perhaps encouraged by their electors.
The Halley Stewart Playing Field
Given that the field was purchased with the support of the Sir Halley Stewart, and was given to the people of Spalding “to be used in perpetuity as a playing field … for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Town of Spalding” you would be forgiven for thinking that it would be actually available for all inhabitants of the town, but no, in 2012, concerns were being expressed that this was not necessarily the case, with some feeling that it was being treated solely as a football ground with Spalding United having exclusive use of it.
These concerns, together with the fear that its central location might one day make it a too tempting target for development, the Society and the Spalding Community Campaign independently put these concerns to Fields In Trust, the charity that protects parks, playing fields, play grounds and green spaces.
In response, their Deputy Chief Executive drew the Council’s attention to an almost identical case in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, where the football club was required to vacate the playing field in question and the Council concerned to return it to public use. The Charity Commission’s ruling was clear:-
“A trustee’s first loyalty is to the charity“
Accordingly, Fields In Trust advised South Holland District Council on 30 November 2012 “to seek guidance from the Commission to clarify the position in regard to the possibility of a breach of trust“.
After obtaining legal advice that had indicated that as the Council was the trustee of The Halley Stewart Playing Field Trust, decisions about the playing field should be taken by all members of the Council collectively. A Special Meeting of the full Council was held on 19 June 2013 at which it was confirmed that the Charity Commission had asked for more detailed information about the playing field being available for the benefit of the inhabitants of Spalding as required by the terms of the Trust. After obtaining legal advice a further meeting of the Council was held on 11 December 2013. At that meeting a summary of the advice provided was given and it was agreed that the booking form for the field would be amended, to make it clear that individuals and other small organisations were able to book the field.
The booking form was duly amended enabling individuals and organisations to book the field.
Today, the playing field is the subject of a long term lease by Spalding United who do make the field available for hire.
The Halley Stewart Playing Field Trust
Following a Freedom of Information request by Spalding United in 2021, a copy of the original Trust was made available by the Charity Commission, and a copy of the deed appears below.
Chiltern Drive Playing Field
In 2015, we helped prevent to loss of a playing field for the living to a cemetery extension for the dead.
Severn Road Playing Field
In July 2015 the District Council’s cabinet approved the a proposal “to appropriate [the two pieces of] existing Council owned land from the Housing Revenue Account to the General Fund.” with the recommendation “That … delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director (Commercialisation) to proceed with subsequent disposals of such land to the Council’s housing company.” Given the facts that we had highlighted in our objection to the loss of part of the Chiltern Drive Playing Field we wrote to the council to object to this recommendation.
The Council ignored us and declared the Council’s intention to dispose of the Severn Road field to Welland Homes Ltd. (the Council’s own housing company) “to enable the delivery of new housing”. We objected again.
In 2016 Welland Homes Ltd lodged a planning application to build 24 houses on the site near to Coronation Channel. This provoked another public outcry and a further intervention by Sport England
Regardless of what the Planning Committee had said about the Chiltern Drive Playing Field proposal, they approved the application even though the amount of accessible Green Space in Spalding was still less than what it should have been. Things went quiet for a few years, until suddenly in the Autumn of October 2019 the plans were shelved over concerns about the cost of additional flood protection measures.
The Society’s position is that we support the building of much needed housing for local residents, but not at the expense of reducing further an already inadequate provision of public green space. New development should be in the right place, not the wrong place.
We will continue to challenge any proposal that would result in the loss of public green space.
