Planning Permission: Playing Fields

Mr. Don Foster
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2008, Official Report, column 1167, on planning permission: playing fields, if he will break down the planning applications considered by Sport England by parliamentary constituency.

Mr. Sutcliffe
Sport England does not hold information on planning applications affecting playing fields, broken down by parliamentary constituency. Sport England does however collect information by region.

Mr. Don Foster
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2008, Official Report, column 1167, on planning permission: playing fields, whether his Department still collects information on the number of planning applications approved each year affecting sites which either were too small or of the wrong shape to accommodate a playing pitch as currently defined as referred to in the answer of 1 November 2006, Official Report, column 421, on playing fields.

Mr. Sutcliffe
Sport England is a statutory consultee on all planning applications affecting playing field land where there is at least one pitch marked out of 0.4 hectares or greater. As part of that process Sport England collects information on the number of applications that affected land too small or the wrong shape to accommodate a playing pitch.