Salford City Council has got its planning knickers in a twist according to the Save Our Duncan Matheson Playing Field Group, which is opposing the building of any houses on the recreational space off Lancaster Road.
On one hand, Salford Council's Local Plan draft states that the future of Duncan Matheson Playing Fields will see "enhancing the existing playing area and delivering new changing rooms and car parking (see Policy H9/13)", but adds that it is "allocated for open space together with enabling housing development...
"It has the potential to contribute to the range of recreation facilities within the area and across the city more generally, but the investment necessary is only likely to be forthcoming if there is some enabling development on part of the site in the form of houses... not exceeding 50 dwellings..."
Like the Buile Hill Mansion refurbishment, it seems that the Council will only approve community facilities if there is accompanying development to pay for it this despite Section 106 payments (or lack of them) which are supposed to fund these kind of improvements.
"In the Local Plan there is a section proposing houses on the field, but it is a protected recreational field which cannot be built on, so I don't see how they can put forward a proposal with that effect" says Steven Healey of the Save Our Duncan Matheson Playing Field Group
"Later on in the Local Plan there's another section about protecting sports fields, contradicting what they've put in the same document" he adds "In the Green Space Strategy there is also a section that says this is a potential hub for sporting activity, so it seems to me that one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing.
"On top of that, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham says that he's totally opposed to building on top of recreation and park land, so what the heck are Salford Council doing?" he asks "They don't seem to know. I think they just want income and it just doesn't make sense as far as I can make out. Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett says one thing one minute, and it's almost as if someone behind his back tells him he can't say that, so he says something else. You can't believe it. What's going on? Do they know what's going on?"
The Save Our Duncan Matheson Playing Field Group has called a public meeting for this Thursday 21st March, 7pm, at the De La Salle Social Club, and has invited the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Manchester (part of the Greater Manchester Trust for Recreation), which owns the bulk of the land, to the meeting but it doesn't look like the organisation will attend.
"We have been trying to persuade the charity trust that owns the majority of the fields to join with us to encourage teams to play on the field so they can get third party funding to make the thing better and improve playing facilities" Steven explains "But we seem to be in an uphill battle trying to get them to accept this reasoning. We don't know how we can move forward because we're trying to help them..."
The public meeting will try to figure out a way forward, with the local residents set against development of any sort...
When Salford's Draft Local Plan was first published, it acknowledged that the proposal for Duncan Matheson "will raise concerns with the local population"...The meeting will determine how big those 'concerns' currently are, as more and more Salford people get involved in the fight against 'rampant development'...
Save Our Duncan Matheson Playing Field Group Public Meeting
Thursday 21st March 7pm
De La Salle Social Club
Lancaster Road
For more details see the Save Our Duncan Matheson Playing Field Facebook page click here
For a full background see previous Salford Star articles...
Over 4,000 Residents Oppose Houses On Duncan Matheson Playing Fields click here
Revised Local Plan For Salford Sees Fifty Houses on Duncan Matheson Playing Field click here
Community Green Space Campaigners Join Demo Outside Salford Council click here
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