Schools: Playing Fields

(asked on 17th July 2015) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much revenue has accrued to the public purse through the sale of sports fields in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire, (c) the East Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years.


Answered by
Edward Timpson Portrait
Edward Timpson
This question was answered on 23rd July 2015

This government will only give local authorities and schools permission to dispose of school playing fields if the sports and curriculum needs of the school can continue to be met. All proceeds of any sales must be put back into improving sports or educational facilities.

It is not the government or the department that instigates the disposal of school playing fields. It is the schools themselves and their local authorities that propose to convert these often surplus or unused fields to invest in school sport or education.

Details of school playing field sales are not held centrally. Schools and local authorities only need to seek consent from the department to dispose of a school playing field. Disposal includes leasing to a third party provider.

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