Policy information sourced from The London Plan 2021
S5 Sports and Recreation Facilities
- To ensure there is sufficient supply of good quality sports and recreation facilities, boroughs should:
- prepare Development Plans informed by a needs assessment for sports and recreation facilities. Needs should be assessed at the local and sub-regional level. Needs assessments should include an audit of existing facilities
- secure sites for a range of sports and recreation facilities in Development Plans, as justified by the needs assessment
- maintain, promote and enhance networks for walking, cycling and other activities including the Walk London Network shown on Figure 5.1
- Development proposals for sports and recreation facilities should:
- increase or enhance the provision of facilities in accessible locations, well-connected to public transport and link to networks for walking and cycling
- maximise the multiple use of facilities, and encourage the co-location of services between sports providers, schools, colleges, universities and other community facilities
- support the provision of sports lighting within reasonable hours, where there is an identified need for sports facilities, and lighting is required to increase their potential usage, unless the lighting gives rise to demonstrable harm to the local community or biodiversity.
- Existing sports and recreational land (including playing fields) and facilities for sports and recreation should be retained unless:
- an assessment has been undertaken which clearly shows the sports and recreational land or facilities to be surplus to requirements (for the existing or alternative sports and recreational provision) at the local and sub-regional level. Where published, a borough’s assessment of need for sports and recreation facilities should inform this assessment; or
- the loss resulting from the proposed development would be replaced by equivalent or better provision in terms of quantity and quality in a suitable location; or
- the development is for alternative sports and recreational provision, the benefits of which clearly outweigh the loss of the current or former use.
- Where facilities are proposed on existing open space, boroughs should consider these in light of policies on protecting open space (Policy G2 London’s Green Belt, Policy G3 Metropolitan Open Land and Policy G4 Open space) and the borough’s own assessment of needs and opportunities for sports facilities, and the potential impact that the development will have.
For more information please see The London Plan 2021