Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many state playing fields were sold in each year since 2010.

Edward Timpson

This government will only give local authorities and schools permission to dispose of school playing fields if the sports and curriculum needs of the school can continue to be met. All proceeds of any sales must be put back into improving sports or educational facilities

It is not the government or the department that instigates the disposal of school playing fields. It is the schools themselves and their local authorities that propose to convert these often surplus or unused fields to invest in school sport or education.

Details of school playing field sales are not held centrally. Schools and local authorities only need to seek consent from the department to dispose of a school playing field. Disposal includes leasing to a third party provider. We have published a list of departmental decisions on applications for consent to dispose of school playing field land since May 2010, which can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-land-decisions-about-disposals

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