School gets approval for late use of sports pitch

The school has said the extra hours will benefit community sports clubs

A school in Surrey has been told it can use its sports pitch later into the evening, despite complaints about a possible increase in noise.

Weydon School in Farnham had been trying to increase the play time on its sports pitch for some years.

Planning conditions from 2013 had restricted players from using the pitch outside of 09:00 to 20:30 on weekdays and 09:00 to 18:00 on weekends.

At a meeting on Wednesday, Surrey County Council's planning committee unanimously voted to allow Weydon School to stay open one hour later from Monday to Friday, despite officers recommending refusal, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

At the meeting on Wednesday, officers said a "balance" needed to be struck between the benefits of sports facilities to Farnham and the noise disturbance affecting residential homes near to the school.

Neighbours objected to the scheme complaining that noise from whistles, people shouting and car doors slamming meant they had to close their windows and it stopped them from enjoying their gardens.

Growing demand

But under the new approved conditions, the school can use the pitch until 21:30 Monday to Friday.

Other changes include adapting the traffic entrance to the pitches into a one-way system and allowing the floodlights to also be lit until 21:30.

Looking at the changing populations of Farnham with more houses going up, councillors recognised there was a growing demand in providing sporting sites.

Julie Tavener, business and operations manager for the school, said the school generated about £1,500 a week from renting out the pitch, with the money going into maintaining the sports facilities, and any surplus reinvested into the school.

She said: "An extra hour pitch time would make a massive difference to our scheduling and wider community access to sport."

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