Changing the use of Moulsecoomb playing field

We are proposing to change the use of the school playing field on Hodshrove Lane from a school playing field to sports facilities for community use.

Moulsecoomb Primary School no longer uses the playing field as they have their own field contained within the school premises. Therefore, we believe the field would be better used as a facility for the wider community, rather than kept for educational purposes. There is more detail on the reasons for this set out below.

Our proposal is to convert the playing field into 3G football pitches as part of the wider Moulsecoomb Housing & Community Hub project. There were a number of requests to include 3G pitches when the community was consulted about the wider scheme back in 2019 as part of the Planning For Real sessions. These pitches will cover the majority of the space but there will be run off areas at the edge of the site that will remain as green space. Under the proposals the former school playing field would continue to belong to the council – and would continue to be for use by the local community. We would like to know if you support this proposal. More details about it are set out below. We are conducting this consultation in accordance with government rules around changing the use of educational sites.

Why we don’t believe the site should continue to be used for educational purposes

The playing field was formerly part of Moulsecoomb Primary School which has in the past been a 3-form entry school with a total capacity for 630 pupils. The school has not admitted that many pupils for many, many years, as a consequence of this over time the LA has reduced the Published Admission Number (PAN) for the school from 90 to 60 and then to 30.

The current number of pupils on roll at the school is as follows:

• Reception 23
• Yr1 21
• Yr2 22
• Yr3 21
• Yr4 26
• Yr5 24
• Yr6 19
• TOTAL 156

The school became an academy on 1 November 2021 with a PAN of 30. Given the size of the main school site and the reduced PAN it was not necessary to transfer this area of playing field to the Academy trust to support the PAN. It was therefore excluded from the transfer. Moulsecoomb Primary School uses this playing field approximately once a year for at all other times they use the playing fields on the main site for curricular and other activities. Pupil numbers in the city have been falling for approximately 10 years and are forecast to continue in this way for the foreseeable future, it is not therefore anticipated that Moulsecoomb Primary school will ever need to increase in size from its current PAN of 30. As a result of this we are looking for alternative uses for this area of land that will benefit the local community and the school.

What are the educational and community advantages of the proposal?

The educational and community advantages of this scheme are that the council will not have to maintain empty or under used sites and it will enable the build of a new Community Hub that will include a library, GP surgery, youth centre, community spaces, community café, pharmacy etc. The proposed Community Hub will accommodate a new youth centre (relocated from the 67 Centre on Hodshrove Lane), a public library (relocated from the existing site adjacent to Selsfield Drive), community space for Trust for Developing Communities, and an integrated health offer including a GP Surgery, space for Sussex Community Foundation Trust (NHS) and a Pharmacy. In addition to this, the proposal will give the opportunity to provide improved sports facilities for the community which supports wider council priorities including a skate plaza and proposed 3G pitches. Also included in this scheme are 212 council rented homes which will introduce more families into the area.

What might be the educational advantages of retaining the current position?

We can see no advantage to the current position being retained. The site would remain an underused facility. For these reasons we are now looking to change the use of this site.

More details about our proposal

As Moulsecoomb Primary has an existing playing field on their school site, our proposal is that the site external to their boundary should be taken out of school use and used to enhance the local sports facilities offering. We are committed to making sure this playing field continues to be used for community sports facilities – just not a school playing field.

A transport assessment has been submitted to the now approved planning application for the wider development. Overall, the assessment details that there are no significant material highway or transport impacts as a result of the proposed development which will be additionally mitigated by the travel planning measures listed in the application and the highly accessible location of the site.

Views of the local authority

The view of the local authority is that the site is not needed for education provision either now or in the foreseeable future. As a result, the site could be better used to deliver alternative priorities of the council. The proposal will benefit the local community by providing enhanced sporting facilities. It will not disadvantage the school as we can protect the current school use when setting out the usage of the new facility.