Government close 40 playing fields in run up to Olympics

Hugh Robertson comments on the detrimental effect of closing playing fields on sport.

The Government has today admitted that 40 playing fields have closed in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. The figures, revealed in a written statement, show that despite a commitment to protect playing fields the Government has sold off the land for development.

Shadow Sports Minister, Hugh Robertson commented:
“Closing playing fields has a huge detrimental impact on sport and in the run up to London 2012 it is a shocking that the Government is allowing this to happen.
The Government’s figures also exclude smaller playing fields and so the impact could, in fact, be much worse than these figures suggest.”

He added, “The admission that figures for earlier years were inaccurate, is a part of a worrying pattern to misrepresent data for political purposes - like the decision to count swimming pools that have no water or are in private schools or military bases. Only a year ago, previous ministers were using what we now know to be incorrect figures to claim some political success - claims that now look hopelessly over exaggerated.”