An Aussie Rules football team has said Merton Council’s controversial plans to build an artificial grass pitch (AGP) on the playing fields they have used for over a decade could threaten the club’s existence.
Merton Council wants to build the floodlit pay-to-play pitch on Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Fields in Motspur Park to provide 3G training facilities to a wider range of teams and sports.
However, members of the Wimbledon Hawks, and Friends of the playing fields claim the council wants to usher through the plans without proper consultation and consideration of those clubs and residents that already use the site.
“If we don’t have a place to play, we don’t have a club,” said Richard Beall of the Wimbledon Hawks. The team of around 150 male and female members is the borough’s only Aussie Rules team.
The council’s plan to build the AGP in the eastern corner of the field could directly affect the club, with current projections showing the proposed pitch encroaching on the oval playing surface it uses. “The very first diagram I saw cut off about a quarter of our playing surface,” Mr Beall told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
Merton’s Playing Pitch Strategy is driving plans for three AGPs across the borough to address a shortage of sports facilities and rising demand for grassroots football.
However, the strategy dictates that, if an AGP is built at Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Fields, Wimbledon Hawks must be carefully relocated within the site to ensure the sport can continue. According to Mr Beall, the club has received no such assurances from the council.
“I haven’t seen a model of how they will accommodate both the Australian Rules surface and AGP,” he told the LDRS.
Last year the team had to relocate to Wimbledon Park for the entire season because of flooding. However, the move was not a permanent solution, as the site is required each summer for the annual Wimbledon Championships.
“I can’t for the life of me think of another pitch that would have the same facilities as this place,” Mr Beall told the LDRS, noting that the Sir Joseph Hood site also has parking and changing facilities in the pavilion.
The LDRS understands the AGP plans could also affect some of the other teams that use the playing fields.
‘This place is rammed on the weekend’
Alongside the Sir Joseph playing fields, Merton Council plans to build AGPs at nearby Joseph Hood Recreation Ground and Raynes Park High School Sports Ground.
The projects will be funded through a mix of national sports grants, including Football Foundation funding, council capital funds and developer contributions. The plans form part of Merton’s Borough of Sport ambition to improve affordable access to sports facilities.
However, Mr Beall and members of the Friends of Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Fields say the council chose the site without properly consulting local residents and other stakeholders.
“This is a promotion, not a consultation,” said chair of the Friends group Martin Halsall, recalling the council’s recent efforts to share information about the plans. “We have thought from day one that this is a done deal.”
Members of the Friends told the LDRS how they had conducted their own survey of local residents to gather independent perspectives on the proposals. Out of 732 responses, 80 per cent came out in opposition to the AGP plans, they claim.
However, the Friends claim the council had ignored this and failed to adequately explain why the playing fields were chosen. “They are treating the Playing Pitch Strategy like a papal declaration,” Mr Halsall said.
“We do not want to be labelled as anti-sport,” he added. “We just don’t know how the football trumps everything else here.”
The question of why the playing fields were chosen is particularly pressing for the Friends, who argue the area already lacks open, freely accessible green space.
“While it may look like there is a lot of green space around us on Google maps, a lot of that is private land,” one Friend noted.
“This place is rammed on the weekend,” said Bernie McAllister, treasurer of the Friends group, noting how many local residents rely on the park. “What we discovered during Covid was how great this place is,” added fellow Friend Sarah Ditch.
The Friends believe the park could soon be used by potentially thousands of new local residents if a number of large local development schemes are completed. The Motspur Park gas holders site, which sits just behind the Beverley Brook to the left of the playing fields, is due to be redeveloped with plans for nearly 600 homes being approved by City Hall earlier this year.
“This will be their back garden,” said Mr Halsall, arguing that local transport connections are not equipped for the influx of new residents.
The Friends also raised environmental concerns, including the risk of rubber crumb from the AGP’s 3G surface entering the nearby nature reserve or Beverley Brook. The Friends warned that expanding the existing car park onto green space to accommodate increased traffic could harm local wildlife.
Opponents have called on the council to commit to significant investment in flood prevention measures, highlighting that the playing fields regularly become waterlogged throughout the year.
Merton Council said surveys are under way to assess and minimise the scheme’s impact on wildlife and the environment. Plans include replacing modified grassland with lowland meadow and creating new habitats through tree planting.
Merton’s Cabinet Member for Sport and Heritage, Councillor Caroline Cooper-Marbiah, told the LDRS: “We know Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Field is an important destination for grassroots sport in Merton, and we want to provide local clubs and the wider community with a more reliable place to play all year round, including increasing times of extreme weather.
“We know some residents have strong views about the proposed artificial grass pitch, and I would like to reassure them that we’re taking a careful, considered approach to developing these plans.
“Our mission to become London’s Borough of Sport means it’s essential we invest in our pitches and sporting spaces so that everyone can enjoy quality facilities on their doorstep. Our Playing Pitch Strategy, and the external recommendations anchoring it, show we need to create more artificial grass pitches in our borough to meet the rising demand for sport locally.
The council encouraged residents to visit its website for more information on the proposals and complete its online survey. The council said feedback would be considered as part of its planning application, which it aims to submit by the end of the year.
