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HELP SPORT ENGLAND PROTECT PLAYING FIELDS - RESPOND BY JAN 13th

BF members can support Sport England (SE) by responding to a consultation that proposes removing them (SE) as a statutory consultee on planning applications involving playing fields. The consultation deadline is January 13th, 2026 and a petition and template responses are available.

From Sport England:

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has launched a formal consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system, including the proposal to remove Sport England as a statutory consultee for planning applications involving playing fields. Sport England’s initial response to the announcement can be found here.

The consultation runs for eight weeks and closes on 13 January 2026, and our policy team will be developing a response to the consultation with input from members in the coming weeks.

We are deeply concerned that the removal of Sport England as a statutory consultee would remove vital safeguards which protect playing fields from development and ensure continued community use.  This is why we launched our Protect Where We Play campaign earlier this summer.

Importantly, this is an issue relevant to all NGBs. Removal of Sport England as a statutory consultee will not only weaken protections for playing field and pitches but will also have detrimental effect on the provision of wider community sports facilities which are essential to improving health and wellbeing. Removing Sport England’s formal role will reduce its capability to advise and support local authorities to secure the continued provision of high quality, accessible community facilities such as courts, sports halls and leisure centres.

We therefore need your help to support the next phase of our campaign. You can do this by following these simple steps:

  1. Sign our petition to stop Sport England being removed as a statutory consultee here.
  2. Respond to the consultation – go to our campaign page and click on ‘Respond to the consultation’ where you will find links to a pre-filled email response as well as a document with key messages you can use to answer the consultation questions.
  3. Share the campaign with your grassroots networks and encourage them to sign the petition, respond to the consultation, write to their local MP and share on social media – all the campaign material, links and templates can be found here.

Ultimately it is crucial we use our collective voice to ensure that sport and recreation is protected in the planning system.

Thank you in advance for your support.