The sale of school playing fields - selling off family silver or necessary capital generation for reinvestment into the School Estate?
Media headlines have dramatised the recent statutory government guidance, which allows local authorities flexibility to use capital receipts from qualifying asset sales to fund revenue costs. It has been confirmed that this could include funds generated by local authorities in disposing of school playing fields.
“It’s like Labour are selling off the family silver, and its school children are suffering as a result." - Kevin Hollinrake, the shadow housing secretary
In addition to this, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill was introduced to Parliament in the same month this year, with Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, claiming that this will create the biggest boom in a generation. The Bill is aimed at accelerating the delivery of new homes and has important reforms for the planning system. Whilst some appreciate the plans to streamline a slow and complex planning system, the Bill is not without criticism and concern to others. The significance for the school estate is that there are plans to eliminate Sport England from the group of statutory consultees in the planning process. Sport England claims to have protected more than 1,000 playing fields between April 2022 and March 2023. The proposal has led the chief executive of Sport England to issue a statement on its website:
"Once you lose a playing field or pitch, it's gone forever. With more than half our playing fields in this country within school grounds, and with a child obesity crisis and £7.4billion lost to the economy each year to inactivity, it's essential we get the balance right to ensure any future legislation continues to protect the facilities base in this country."
This balance between allowing housing development and protection of green spaces (including school playing fields) is a long-reported issue, which causes a conflict of government policy as there is a strong presumption against the disposal of school playing field land.
Despite these headlines, any sale of school land which has been publicly funded will be subject to strict compliance under existing statute requiring consent from the Secretary of State for Education (save where General Consent Orders apply). School land can be held in a variety of different ways, depending on the type of maintained school or academy, which will determine the relevant legislation for obtaining consent, and the process will also require a consideration of the existing playing field space of the school before any consent would be granted. The Secretary of State for Education has very wide powers as to whether consent will be granted; how the capital proceeds will be distributed, and will require reinvestment of the capital proceeds back into the school estate. There are significant checks in place before playing field land can be disposed of, and anyone who has been involved in this process will confirm that this is a complex and difficult process to navigate to allow for a successful sale.
Final thought
A report issued by the National Audit Office in 2023 sets out that following years of underinvestment, the school estate's overall condition is declining, and around 700,000 pupils are learning in a school that needs major building or refurbishment. Therefore, many responsible for the condition of the school estate would support a system where the barriers to a sale of surplus land were diminished if this would generate capital for reinvestment in the existing school estate, as this may actually benefit pupils as well as bolster the housing development in the country.