ANSWER S5 Q1:

a. Where are local sports and leisure facilities located? – Football pitches for all age groups are located at Sean Devereaux Park, on Yateley Green, at Darby Green Playing Fields and at Frogmore Community College. A cricket pitch can be found at Sean Devereaux Park in Chandlers Lane. Yateley Centre, which is part of Yateley School, has a fully equipped gym, a swimming pool and sports halls which can be hired. Frogmore Community College has a floodlit Astroturf (TM) pitch, a gym, squash courts and sports halls. Two tennis courts are available on Yateley Green. This facility also doubles up as a floodlit football training area. There are 8 children’s playgrounds around Yateley. They are located at Yateley Green, Fallowfield, Winton Crescent, Monteagle Open Space, Lower Cane, Churchill Crescent, Frogmore Green and Hearsay Gardens. Fishermen can enjoy their sport at Tri-lakes, Mill Lane Lake, Yateley Green Pond, Wyndhams Pool and Yateley Lakes, one of the best coarse fishing facilities in England. Many bridleways are regularly used by horse riders in Yateley. At Blackbushe Airport it is possible to fly small aircraft including helicopters or to have flying lessons. For lovers of water sports, jet skiing and sailing are available at Horseshoe Lake on Yateley’s border.

b. Are they in good condition? The football pitches are in very good condition. The ones located at Sean Devereaux Park have been extensively improved over the last 4 years by adding a new drainage system. All the pitches operated by the Town Council are looked after by an outside contractor whose schedule includes marking out, regular cutting, drag matting and extensive renovations at the end of each season.

The cricket club look after their own pitch. Volunteers work hard to keep it in top condition.

The sports facilities at Frogmore Community Campus are owned and managed by Hart District Council. A recent fire has meant many facilities have been replaced and updated. The Astroturf (TM) pitch was renewed in 2005.

The tennis courts on Yateley Green had a new surface in 2003. The facilities at Yateley Centre are all in good condition.

The condition of the playgrounds varies. After a spate of vandalism, Frogmore Green play area was refurbished in 2005 and is now very popular. The one on Yateley Green is due to be done in June 2006 to a similar standard. Much of the play equipment at all the other playgrounds is in need of updating.

The bridleways on Yateley Common are in reasonable condition for horseriders but have been severely criticised as frequently too muddy for walkers who must also use them. As a result the Commons Management Commiitee agreed to a reassessment of the bridlepaths and the creation of new public footpaths. This has now been implemented by the Highway Authority, The fishing facilites are considered some of the best in their class. Most are managed by Cemex who took over RMC. (water sports?)

c. How well used are these facilities? The football pitches are booked every weekend, between September and May, by at least 6 different clubs. The cricket club runs several teams which means its ground is also very well used. (Frogmore?) The tennis courts are used by approximately 35 season ticket holders as well as casual hirers and a tennis coach although this is mainly during the summer months. A number of football teams use the floodlit facility in the evenings especially during the winter. Bridleways are considered to be overused by the strong local demand for horseriding, and the large number of livery businesses. The fisheries, water sports, and Airport, are all extensively used but not necessarily by Yateley residents. (Frogmore, Yateley Centre?) The refurbished play area at Frogmore Green is well used and so was the one on Yateley Green until the vandalism in 2005. The play area on the Hart-owned public open space at Monteagle is well used by children. The others are used less due to poor equipment. The watersport courses at Horseshoe Lake and flying lessons at Blackbushe Airport are available in limited numbers and seem to sell out fairly quickly.

d. How affordable are these facilities for local residents? The football clubs are the owned people who hire out the pitches and judging by the extensive use, provide good value for money. The prices compare well with surrounding areas and a lower rate is charged for junior clubs. (Get price lists for Frogmore and Yateley, etc.) The tennis courts are very reasonable with prices starting at £2-50 per hour for juniors, rising to £4-50 for adults. As the courses at Horseshoe Lake seem to sell out quite quickly and there is a considerable waiting list for flying lessons at Blackbushe Airport, these more expensive pursuits must be attractively priced for their target market - which may not necessarily include large numbers of Yateley residents.

ANSWER S5 Q2:

a. Which local school/college facilities are open for public use? The swimming pool at Yateley School is open for limited general public use but is well used by clubs including swimming for the disabled, life savers and for junior swimming lessons. There is a gym on site which is includes a fitness centre, steam rooms, saunas and sunbeds and is part of the GP referral scheme. The sports halls and drama hall are used, again by groups or clubs, for a variety of activities including martial arts, dance classes and yoga. Frogmore Leisure Centre is on the site of the Community College and all of its facilities are open to the public. Westfields Junior School has a small swimming pool which is hired by local swimming clubs and by the general public for junior swimming parties.

 

b. Which are available inside or outside school hours/term time? All the facilities at Yateley except the gym are only available outside school hours. The same applies to the pool at Westfields. As Frogmore Leisure Centre is independent, most of the facilities there are available at any time. The exceptions are the floodlit astro turf pitch, football pitches and some sports halls which are used by the school.

NOTES S5 Q3: Still waiting for answers. Have sent reminders

ANSWER S5 Q4: Yateley Common, The Royal Oak Valley and the Blackwater Valley are all very popular with walkers. There is an extensive network of bridleways on Yateley used by the horse riders, many of whom stable their horses in coomercial facilities at Cobbetts Lane. Watersports are available in the Blackwater Valley. Sailing and canoeing are available at Horseshoe Lake just outside Yateley. Blackwater Water Sports, just north of Moulsham Green offers water-skiing and Jet Ski facilities.

NOTES S5 Q5:

This section is impossible to answer without a full survey of what local people think they need. There has long been a feeling among some local sports groups that there is lack of provision for formal field sports, particularly football for children, although there has been extensive new facilities provided at Chandlers Lane. There are for example no public facilities for Rugby in Yateley.

 

There is no public swimming pool in Yateley, although there are several in surrounding towns used by Yateley people. The question begs the question of where any addition facilities would be sited since almost all of the civil parish is either built-up, or is registered common land on which no 'works and erections' can be built. The only possible sites for new sports and leisure facilities are the existing school playing fields or undeveloped land, onwhich developers want to build more houses. Policy DEV 21 in the adopted Hart Local plan applies to Land off Sandhurst Road, Yateley (Employment & Leisure)

However the associated housing development has been built by not the proposed leisure facilities.

ANSWER S5 Q6: Open Space

 

a). Where are there areas of open space? Yateley Common, Monteagle Open Space, Sean Devereux Park, Yateley Green, The Royal Oak Valley and the playgrounds listed in the answer to Q1.

 

b). What facilities do they contain?

Yateley Common – Parking areas and picnic areas

Sean Devereux Park – Sports pitches, limited access to toilet facilities

Yateley Green – sports pitches, tennis courts, children’s play area, limited use of public toilets

Monteagle Open Space – children’s play area, The Red Cross Centre and the Scout Hut.

Darby Green Playing Fields – sports pitches, community centre

Royal Oak Valley – limited parking

 

c) What activities do they allow?

 

Yateley Common – leisure i.e walking horse riding

Sean Devereux Park – predominately football and cricket

Darby Green Playing Fields – a mixture of sport and leisure

Yateley Green – a mixture of sport and leisure

Monteagle Open Space – leisure

Royal Oak Valley – walking

 

d) How well are the open areas/ facilities used? Very well

 

e) Which areas or facilities are the most popular? Yateley Green is very popular for leisure and Sean Devereux is popular for sport.

 

f) What do people find most attractive about these areas?

 

g) Which areas of open space need, and get, continued maintenance and protection? Yateley Common is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Protection Area maintained by Hampshire County Council

Yateley Green is part of the conservation area and is maintained by Yateley Town Council

Darby Green Playing Fields and Sean Devereux Park are also maintained by the Town Council.

The Royal Oak Valley is also part of the conservation area.

 

h) Which areas of open space suffer from poor maintenance, litter, graffiti or vandalism?

 

Yateley Common currently has problems with illegal motorbikes.

Darby Green, Monteagle and Yateley Green all suffer from occasional vandalism, litter and graffiti and also anti social behaviour from groups of local youths.

ANSWER S5 Q8:

As far as we can ascertain all houses in Yateley are within 400 metres of some kind of open space.

ANSWER S5 Q9

(a) & (c): There is now no space allocated for allotments in Yateley. There were allotments until about 10-15 years ago between the Guide Hut on Mill Lane and the Telephone Exchange, but housing development was permitted on this land. The two estate roads which now occupy the former allotments are Church View (35 houses) and Church Mews (4 bungalows). Question (c) is thus not applicable. There is however a demand for replacement of the allotments.

There are currently (Jan 2008) 53 people on a waiting list for allotments. This list is maintained by Yateley Town Council which has identified a potential site for allotments as part of a restoration scheme after the completion of gravel extraction. Provision of this site depends on sucessful outcome of a planning application by the gravel company.

The document prepared by Hart for the LDF (Hart PPG17 Assessment Report: Open Spaces Document) does not identify any need for additional allotment space in the District. However the Town Council is under an obligation to formally consider any written request for allotments by six of more electors under the Small Holdings & Allotments Act 1908 s.23 (1). If the Town Council finds there is demand the Council is bound to provide allotments, but the obligation is restricted to allotment gardens, but it is not essential for the provision to be in the locality (s.25 (1))

Q10 DRAFT ANSWER: The new requirement written into the draft Options and Issues document of Local Development Framework (see answer to S5 Q8A) is that all new housing development in a buffer zone from 400 to 5,000 metres from the boundary of the Special Protection Area for Wild Birds (SPA) will not be approved unless accompanied by the creation of a very large provision of new public open space. These proposals for buffer zones are the result of Natural England's so-called Delivery Plan, and the proposed new areas of public open space are to be know as SANGs (Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace). It is therefore now theoretically impossible for any existing public open space to be closed either by becoming new housing development, or by reduction of government budgets, since reduction of green space would have an adverse effect on the SPA.

 

However there is always pressure to provide more development for employment and leisure facilities. Applications for commercial development and public amenities are not likely to fall foul of the European Union Habitat Directive. Currently the greatest threat is to Yateley Green for leisure facilities such as swimming pools and such like. Yateley Green is registered common land. Any permission to enclose common land must be submitted to the Secretary of State for the Environment for permission, who is severely limited in the scope of approvals which can be granted. The main limitation is that the common can only be enclosed to enhance the use of the common as open space. It is therefore extremely unlikely under the new Common Land law that any such leisure facilities would be approved. Any structure built without proper authority will remain illegal and may be subject to a court order to remove it if built.

 

The answer to this question, at the time of writing, is that there is no threat to Yateley's open spaces. On the contrary there seems to be a stronger likelihood that new open spaces may be created if housebuilders can work out the economics of providing new open space to facilitate new housing development.

 

There has been a continuing concern that one day the school playing fields will be sold off in order to build yet more housing estates?