Campaigners 'over the moon'

1:10pm Friday 20th April 2007

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TRIUMPHANT residents are "absolutely over the moon" after a treasured playing field was saved from development.

Residents from Kingsfield Residents Action Group (KRAG) have lobbied hard to save St George's Playing Field, Pinner View, from plans to turn it into a 50 plot housing complex, submitting a petition with more than 800 signatures from local residents.

The plans, which could have robbed the local community of a much-loved field that is used by Scouts and a cricket team, were put forward by the church that is desperate to raise funds to renovate its Grade II listed church hall and pay outstanding building costs of £150,000.

But KRAG has championed tirelessly for the field to remain in the hands of the community.

Speaking after Harrow Council's Strategic Planning Committee meeting on Wednesday, April 18, Marian Garner-Patel, chair of KRAG and Kingsfield Avenue resident, said: "I am absolutely over the moon. We have a huge problem with obesity and young children need somewhere to exercise and we have proved that playing fields should stay as playing fields and I hope this field comes back to the use of the local community."

Cllr Bill Stephenson said: "The officer's report on this application is one of the most comprehensively damning that I have seen in a long time."

The application made by CPP architects on behalf of the church was rejected because it presented an unacceptable development of a greenfield site, an unacceptable loss of a sporting and recreation facility, represented an over development of the site that would be detrimental to the character and appearance of the area and no flood risk assessment had been submitted.

Cllr Stephenson added: "The church has made great play in its submission of the waterlogged ground and the bad drainage of the site. It really beggars belief that they have not submitted a flood risk alleviation scheme."

Cllr Marilyn Ashton, chair of the strategic planning committee, said: "The whole key to this is to find the justification to develop a greenfield site, so without this key to open the door to build this whole application really is a non-starter."