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Formal play area and facilities(to include a Youth Football Pitch) off Old School Road, Newport



Closing date: 14 June 2012

Lead Petitioner: Stuart Locke

Status: decision

Petition: We, the undersigned wish to petition that the public open space contribution of £25k by the developers of the St.Josephs site be used to develop a more formal play area and facilities(to include a Youth Football Pitch)off Old School Road, Newport,Barnstaple,Devon.


Background information: My name is Stuart Locke and i am the chairman of Eastside AFC Youth Football. Eastside was formed in 2007 and is now run by a group of committed volunteer parents. We currently have a number of age ranges which is growing every year, between under 8's and under12's.
The principle of the club was and remains to encourage diversity and inclusiveness in an enviroment where children are ensure competitive football at an affordable price.
As a growing club we are finding it more difficult to find Youth Football pitches for our children to play-we are not alone in this difficulty and in our area of Barnstaple there really is limited Youth pitches and facilities.
I know of a piece of land close to St.Joseph's,Landkey Road,Newport that would be perfect for the provision of a Community Youth Football Pitch and as i understand there is section 106 funds(£25k) set aside for a project such as this? This site is where the Cricket Club used to be and with the right funding or grant would like to erect a changing room and WC facility. Also being a resident and parent very near to this site myself, it would be a valuable asset to have a Community Play Area in this large catchment area where there is very little else from the traffic lights in Newport upwards toward Landkey.
This space would really benifit from enhancement for the Youth in our Community, a safe maintained area for all to enjoy. Please help us support some positve change.


Number of signatories: 187

Last ten signatories:

  • Stuart Lane
  • Paul Larter
  • sam laird
  • Graham Cockell
  • Simon Osment
  • Stuart Lloyd
  • Wendy Lloyd
  • Dave Hendy
  • emma ball
  • matthew ball

All signatories

Current progress: To support the epetition, a paper petition was submitted which contained 872 signatures. Therefore the total number of signatures for both petitions was 1059. The petition was referred to Council for debate on Wednesday 26th September 2012 at 7.00 p.m. At this meeting, Council requested the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider a full report addressing the issues of concern and the outcomes of the public consultation prior to consideration by the Executive. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 15 November 2012 agreed that consideration of the report be deferred until consultation had been undertaken with residents boredering the field and evaluated. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the outcome of the consultation at its meeting on 14th March 2013 and made recommendations to be considered by the Executive on 9th April 2013. The Executive at its meeting on 9th April 2013 approved the project proposal and the creation of a football pitch (and associated drainage works) at the former Marist Convent site and that £25,000 of existing Section 106 public open space funding be allocated towards the cost of pitch creation and drainage. The full decision of the Executive is available on the Council's website by clicking on "democracy" on the home page.