Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2016 to Question 31911, if he will make it his policy to extend the protection granted to playing fields to any community leisure facilities by ensuring that Sport England must be consulted before the sale of any such facility; and if he will ensure that Sport England is sufficiently resourced to carry out that role effectively.

We have no plans to change policy on the protection of community leisure facilities. Local communities are best able to decide which local assets are of importance to them and, under the Localism Act 2011, communities can already ensure that they are consulted before the sale of community leisure facilities by nominating them for listing as Assets of Community Value.

In addition, the National Planning Policy Framework already provides strong protection for open spaces. The ‘Promoting healthy communities’ section of the Framework (see http://planningguidance.communities.gov.uk/blog/policy/achieving-sustainable-development/delivering-sustainable-development/8-promoting-healthy-communities/ ) makes clear that existing open spaces and sports and recreation facilities should not be built on unless an assessment has been undertaken which has clearly shown it to be surplus to requirements, or the loss resulting from the proposed development would be replaced by equivalent or better provision in terms of quantity and quality in a suitable location. The Framework also enables local communities to identify green areas of particular importance to them for special protection by designating them as Local Green Space, through the preparation of local and neighbourhood plans.