Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to support the provision of playing pitches in local areas for community requirements.

We recognise the importance of playing pitches for local communities. Sport England is a statutory consultee on planning applications affecting playing fields and its principle aim is to ensure local sports provisions are protected and enhanced. Sport England’s Protecting Playing Fields fund has invested £22 million of National Lottery money in 419 projects, protecting and improving over 1,100 local pitches. This includes Elworth Cricket Club in Congleton, which benefitted from over £47,000 of investment from Sport England in 2015 to develop a new playing field for its junior cricket team.