UPDATE - 7 December 2024

Please see the update and the draft letter to Kingston Council in the "updates" box below. 

You can submit your objections to the council here (Planning Number 24/02369/FUL):

https://publicaccess.kingston.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=SKDJ6LNHJDJ00

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Objection to Southborough Sports Ground Development Project - 3G Playing Pitch

Southborough High School (the "school") plans to create a full-sized 3G sports ground ("pitch") within its existing playing fields, located at the ends of Brook Road and Gladstone Road (off the Hook Road), and which will back on to Love Lane (off Herne Road), Surbiton. 

The school is currently in the pre-planning phase of its development process; it plans to initiate construction of the pitch in 2025, subject to it obtaining planning permission. Despite its ambitions, the school acknowledges its current lack of funding for the project, which it estimates will exceed £2 million for construction alone. Consequently, the school envisions utilising the pitch for full commercial purposes upon completion (to cover construction expenses and ensure ongoing maintenance). Operating hours are intended to span from 8:00am to 10:00pm daily throughout the year, including during holidays. 

The school argues that the pitch will benefit its students, as part of its physical education programme. Other than stating that the pitch will be "servicing the community through promoting health and wellbeing with active sports", the school has not presented any rationale for any potential advantages to the local residents who will bear the burdens of noise, light, and air pollution resulting from this commercial venture and complete change of use by the school.

If planning permission is granted and the 3G pitch is built, residents of Love Lane, Herne Road, Hook Road, Brook Road, Gladstone Road and Haycroft Road (the "surrounding area") will be continuously adversely affected, as addressed by the points included at the "Reasons for Objection" section of this petition. 

Residents of Brook Road attended the school's consultation on 2nd May 2024. The following points were confirmed by representatives of the school:

1. Constant Commercial Use: The development is estimated to exceed £2 million in cost, a financial burden the school currently lacks the means to cover. Consequently, the pitch will operate commercially on a continuous basis to generate revenue for its construction expenses. Given the necessity for replacement every decade, this commercial approach is anticipated to remain unchanged in the foreseeable future.
2. Pedestrian Access: The school intends to create a new pedestrian access point via Brook Road. 
3. Alternative Sports: During the winter months, students have the opportunity to engage in various other sporting activities. Additionally, the school boasts its own astroturf pitch (and other physical education facilities) conveniently located on its premises. There is therefore no "need" for the 3G pitch for students' physical well-being.
4. Policing: The school has not outlined any strategies for monitoring the playing fields during commercial utilisation to ensure safety and mitigate potential issues such as anti-social behavior.
   
5. Parking: The school has ample parking available on the school grounds - there is no need for a parking facility for more than 100 cars, as planned (behind Edward Pinner Court).
6. LED Lighting: The floodlights will be LED blue-light. 
7. Additional Lighting: New path lighting (designed to spill) will be added to the path way leading from Hook Road to the pitch.
8. Fencing: A 4.5m metal fence will surround the pitch.

Please log on to Southborough High School's website to air your objection.

If you agree with the points set out in the "Reasons for Objection" section, please support our campaign and add your signature to this petition.

Please share this petition with as many affected residents as you can.

Yours faithfully,

The Residents of Brook Road, Surbiton

REASONS FOR OBJECTION 

Residential area: Southborough High School's proposal is not in keeping with a residential area and will cause distress to all who live around boundary of the existing playing fields, as well as other neighbouring roads - it is unacceptable to build a 3G pitch so close to residential homes. Additionally, and separately, a 4.5m fence will be erected close to residential properties surrounding the 3G pitch, which will adversely affect the aesthetics of the area. The damage caused to the community would be wide-reaching and irreversible.

Requirement for a 3G pitch: There is no "need" for a  pitch in the area. The school seems to want the pitch solely for the revenue-making opportunities that a 3G pitch will bring. The community already enjoys the use and option of 3G Pitches, which are present in the Surbiton/Tolworth area, i.e., Tolworth Recreational Centre has two floodlit 3G pitches. There is also Goals Tolworth, etc. The benefits of creating a community by building another 3G football pitch where there is not a significant undersupply should not outweigh the harm to the living conditions of adjoining occupiers.

Non-exclusive use by school: The pitch is not for the school's sole usage - taking into account the proposed hours of operation throughout the year (from 8.00am - 10.00pm, 7 days a week, throughout all annual holidays), the majority of the pitch's use will be in the form of external lets and events, which comes with a whole host of issues detrimental to both the environment and health of the local community.

Noise nuisance: A noise nuisance is 34 dBA (decibels adjusted) where background noise is no higher than 24dBA or 10dBA above the level of background noise if this exceeds 24dBA. Noise from 3G pitches has been known to exceed the accepted 50 decibels threshold set out in British Standards, and indoor noise levels for local residents is accepted to exceed the 30 decibels standard set out in WHO guidelines. Please watch this video of an evening five-a-side game played through trees to consider potential noise pollution levels on what is an existing quiet residential area.

During physical education lessons, noise emanating from the Southborough Playing Fields pitches reaches nearby homes and can be heard clearly. Given that these lessons occur during the working day and not on weekends, it generally doesn't pose a significant inconvenience to residents. However, the planned round-the-clock and late-night usage of the pitch, as envisioned by the school's commercial endeavors, raises concerns, especially during the summer months when residents are likely to have their windows open. This heightened activity is anticipated to result in increased sleep disturbances and potentially adverse effects on all residents, with young children being particularly susceptible.

Anti-social hours: The school states in its letter dated April 2024, that plan is to create a genuine community hub around the 3G pitch, and facilitate community use after school, during the weekends, and during the school holidays – this will invariably lead to continuous noise nuisance for local residents. The proposed prolonged hours (9.00am - 10.00pm, 7 days a week) could disrupt the tranquil atmosphere of the residential area and jeopardise the biodiversity of the surrounding green space, home to diverse wildlife. Of particular concern is the pathway surrounding the perimeter of Book Road and Gladstone Road, adjacent to the pitch. This configuration could subject local residents to continuous noise pollution at any time throughout the week, extending beyond the typically serene hours, particularly beyond 10:00pm. Such disturbances are especially troubling for families with children, as disrupted sleep patterns can adversely affect their mental well-being and academic performance.

Increase in vehicle traffic: A constant issue will concern additional traffic, the presence of larger vehicles to transport teams, and traffic arriving from morning use to late into the night. It is anticipated that coaches will be used at times to convey teams to the pitch, which will add to traffic issues and access to Brook Road and Gladstone Road, causing unwarranted congestion in the areas. Increasing traffic will not meet highway requirements and children’s safety will be put at severe risk. Air quality will be affected throughout the whole area from early morning, and beyond 10.30pm. The increase vehicular traffic to the quiet residential area will bring with an increase in fine particulate matter and emissions. 

Pollution: An increase in damaging fine particulate air pollution due to the increase in number of people arriving to the pitch throughout the hours of operation, year round, as well as the inevitable idling engines whilst people wait for their slot (despite a ban on idling engines) is inevitable if the plans proceed. To highlight how much of a change this would effect on the area, it is important to understand that the number of events that will be held throughout the hours of operation. The pitch is not easily accessible by public transport, so when external events are held, there is a huge influx of cars.  Within the school's plans for more than 100 parking spaces, which shows how intensively the school plans for the pitch to be used.  Having potentially this many additional cars visit every day throughout the year, and all day throughout the holidays would increase fine particulate air pollution enough to have a detrimental effect on the health of the local community. An additional concern relates to littering and pollution of the surrounding residential area, caused by the increased footfall, with rubbish left following pitch use. 

Light Pollution: It has been proven that blue-light LEDs are one of the most disruptive forms of lighting to both humans and wildlife. The 12m tall, stadium grade "blue" floodlighting would impact negatively on the biodiversity of a beautiful green space that houses a significant amount of nocturnal wildlife.  Floodlights will flood the surrounding area of up to a thousand metres and affect residents' rights to natural light. The intense light pollution caused by floodlights (and/or light invasion) will directly impacted residents' natural circadian cycles and sleeping patterns; thus, it is reasonably foreseeable to expect residents to suffer associated distress and further adverse health consequences. There are many families in the area with young children, who need to go to bed long before the last floodlight is switched off - these floodlights are strong enough to light up a room even if black-out blinds are fitted. 

Potential anti-social behaviour: The potential for anti-social behaviour in the vicinity raises significant concerns, particularly regarding the safety of residents, especially those with children whose bedrooms overlook the 3G pitch or the proposed car park. Safeguarding against exposure to inappropriate language and behaviour is paramount.  We have consulted with Met Police officers, who have gone on record to say that an increase in anti-social behaviour is almost inevitable with this type of scheme.  Anticipated issues range from petty theft to an upsurge in drug-related activities. Regrettably, there appears to be a lack of comprehensive planning for the supervision and management necessary to ensure the effective oversight, maintenance, and safeguarding of the 3G pitch. Without proper measures in place, the potential exists for adverse impacts on the broader community, therefore the pitch is unlikely to benefit the community, per the school's argument for its development plans.

Parking: Parking is already an existing issue for residents in the surrounding area.  Surrounding roads are already congested, and parking on Brook Road is for residents only. The school intends to create parking for 100 cars in parking lots built over a current nesting area for wildlife. The school has ample parking facilities on its Hook Road grounds, therefore the requirement for an additional parking lot (to the detriment of the wildlife within the intended location) is unnecessary.

Increase in footfall: Proposed entry near resident properties will create a bottleneck at the bottom of Brook Road and Gladstone Road, where there could be over 100 people waiting to enter the pitch at any given time. These are narrow roads, not designed for such heavy foot-traffic.

Wildlife and Biodiversity: Wild life is slowly recovering in the area. There are fox dens in the existing Southborough High School playing fields and in the existing tennis courts, which the school wishes to develop into a parking lot – an excessive amounts of floodlight, noise, footfall, traffic and constant traffic arriving and leaving, will impact the natural habitats of wildlife in the area. The scheme looks to bulldoze approximately 5500 square feet of green amenity space and replace it with a synthetic, polluting, non-recyclable 3G football pitch. Not only will the biodiversity of such a large area of turf and soil be lost, but the noise and light will disturb the wildlife and especially nesting birds that have started to flock to the existing Southborough High School playing fields.  It is difficult to see how a school that sees itself as a school with "eco" credentials can desire to impact biodiversity so negatively. Further, insofar as the floodlights and the spill lighting along the pitches are concerned, such powerful lamps  would lead to an inevitable drop in the numbers of local wildlife.  

Health and other environmental impacts: The health and environmental implications of a 3G pitch are several.  Firstly, the proposed pitch would use a non-sustainable, non-recyclable playing surface that would need to be replaced in approximately 10 years' time, with the entire surface going to landfill.  In the meantime, through intensive mixed used, as the pitch degrades, it would "bleed" microplastics into the local area.  These would simply enter the soil and, in cases of finer particles, could become airborne, depositing in people's homes or being breathed in.  There are also increasing numbers of reports that playing on such synthetic, rubberised surfaces could be the cause of an increasing incidence of cancer among players who regularly play on them.  The potential carcinogenic properties of the playing surface is a real and worrying concern. Increasing numbers of studies are warning against the potential carcinogenic effects of rubber - surfaced playing pitches. In addition, the non-recyclable nature of the microplastics that would be generated as the pitch degrades would harm the local environment and would bring with it material health consequences.

Home Values: We have spoken with a number of estate agents who have gone on record to confirm that the proposal of the 3G pitch will significantly reduce the value of all homes in the area.