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Hewett School Plans

The Hewett School is proposing to lease part of their site to a commercial sports company, Goals Soccer Centres plc, to develop 10 all-weather five-a-side football pitches with changing rooms, social facilities and car parking. The school would receive rent and have access to the pitches during school hours.

There is a deadline for making responses to the School Governors of 10 July 2009.
Write to: School Sites Review, Freepost, IH2076, County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, NR1 2BR or use the County Council's online form.

RAID have advised that the proposal includes 95 car parking spaces and probably a licensed bar designed for corporate hospitality events (See RAID's letters below and the Goals Soccer Centres plc website.)

Other communities are facing the development of Goals Soccer Centres on greenfield space. See the concerns expressed about a similar proposal in Morden Park below and the Regent's Park & Primrose Hill website

Morden Park Goals Soccer Proposal - Some Objections

"The increased noise levels will have a considerable impact on the wildlife, let alone for the people living in the area.
"Floodlighting until 11 pm every night of the year will destroy the quality of the Playing Fields for people, animals and birdlife. Floodlighting is known to be a very real problem for birds as it confuses their internal body clocks. The claim that the lighting will be unobtrusive is nonsense. If you aim 100 kilowatts of floodlighting at the ground, you will light up the night sky due to upward reflection. But you don’t have to take our word for it – just go and take a look for yourself at the centres on the A3 or in Sutton.
"Using green space to build a car park does not enhance metropolitan land by any stretch of the imagination. ...Can you imagine the impact of 100 – 200 extra cars going in and out of the site every hour?
"Artificial pitches will add to problems of global warming. Stuart Gaffin, an atmospheric scientist in New York whose focus is excess heat in urban areas and storm-water runoff, said synthetic turf poses problems on both scores. Additionally, removing grass takes away habitats that serve birds and plant life in the city.
"Artificial pitches lead to disinfectants being added to the soil. Cleaning artificial turf is difficult. Blood, sweat and spit are easily absorbed by natural soil, but on artificial turf they've got to be swabbed down with disinfectants and detergents.
"In America environmentalists are concerned about the disposal of artificial turf. Patricia Wood, executive director at Grassroots Environmental Education, says “Synthetic turf on school athletic fields needs to be completely replaced after eight to 12 years, but the old turf will never disintegrate”. It has already been banned by some American landfill sites. And Goals plans to replace its surfaces and boards every 7 years!
"Put simply, plastic isn't grass- it can't produce oxygen, filter rainwater or cool the air like the grass currently does very efficiently.
"The bar is a core part of the Goals Soccer centre – according to their website: “there's a luxury sports bar with MegaScreen © football for all post match analysis!” ... Fact: All Goals Soccer centres have licensed bars. In the first half of 2008 alone these bars took £2m in revenue, an average of £70,000 at each Goals centre. According to a Goals press release: “Approximately 20 percent of total income is derived from the provision of bar and lounge facilities. For many teams this social aspect is an important part of their weekly football routine. As demand for football on a Saturday evening is negligible, the lounges are let for social functions on a regular basis.” We know the A3 site is booked almost every Friday and Saturday night for social gatherings running late into the night." (Morden Park full document)

The County Council has recently distributed a joint NCC/Hewett-School flyer to residents (available as a PDF from the Norfolk County Council website) which only emphasises the benefits of the proposals and fails to mention some of the possible detrimental effects. For example, there is no mention of the sizeable car park and the bar facilities (see RAID's letter to Cllr. Samir Jeraj below)

If you have any comments about the proposal, you can contact RAID using the form to the right, or contact the Head Teacher, Tom Samain, The Hewett School, Cecil Road, Norwich NR1 2PL (email office@hewett.norfolk.sch.uk.)

RAID Letter to Samir Jeraj

6 May 2009

Attention: Cllr. Samir Jeraj

Dear Samir

We have just received a leaflet from Norfolk County Council promoting the Goals Soccer Centre proposals at the Hewett School. The County Council is clearly strongly in favour of these proposals describing it as an "excellent opportunity for the school and community".

We are concerned that the leaflet is misleading.

It makes no mention of the proposal to put a licensed bar on the premises, open 7 days a week until 11.00 pm according to the GOALS website.

It mentions the proposed car park only briefly, and does not mention that 90 spaces are proposed. Naturally, there is no mention of the very large number of car movements likely to be generated by the hundreds of people who could be using it every day.

The location of the area appears to have moved from the earlier consultation exercise. The leaflet says that it is "not next to any houses". However, it is clearly opposite the flats on Lakenham Road.

There are already football pitches of the usual grass kind on the area where it seems the Goals Soccer Centre is to be built. These will be lost in favour of high maintenance, but commercially exploitable, synthetic turf pitches.

The leaflet states that the artificial pitches will be returfed every seven years. What becomes of the old synthetic turf? As you know, they cannot be recycled and this is a significant objection to the scheme.

We see that there are also "hockey proposals". Do you know what these are?

Generally, this piece of promotional literature reminds us of the previous attempt to sell the school playing fields, when the plans were promoted as a new gym for the Hewett and very little mention was made of the many other buildings that were to have been built. This slant is clearly designed to make sure that as few objections as possible are raised by the local community.

I attach FYI our original concerns about this development, raised with the school on 10^th March 2009.

Is the Green Party able to raise local awareness of the actual nature of the plans, as the County Council is clearly not going to do so?

Kind regards

Rebecca and Keith Farwell

RAID

Residents Against Inappropriate Development

c/o 7 Cecil Road

Norwich NR1 2QL

RAID Letter to Tom Samian

10 March 2009

Attention: Tom Samain

Dear Tom

I write following our recent meeting now that we have had a chance to review the materials and plan that you kindly supplied.

Of course, as I said when we met, we believe that football pitches are a very suitable use for a school playing field.

However, having looked at the plan and the website http://www.goalsfootball.co.uk/PageProducer.aspx?Page=21

, we need to raise the following issues.

1. We are most concerned at the proposal to build a car park for 95 cars. We cannot see that this is justified, or suitable for this area.

2. Your plan shows a road into the proposed car park leading from Hall Road. It then goes off in two directions, but the plan does not show where the two roads lead. Is it proposed that the car park roads would exit onto Cecil Road? If not, then where?

3. The website shows that it is an intrinsic part of Goals Soccer Centres that they are open, with associated car movements until 11pm. We do not believe that these late opening hours are suitable for a residential area, particularly if cars were to be exiting into residential roads.

4. The website shows that it is an intrinsic part of Goals Soccer Centres that they have floodlighting until 11pm. We feel that this would cause considerable nuisance to surrounding houses, as well as causing problems, disruption and distress to our local nocturnal wildlife, which include foxes, hedgehogs, bats and owls.

5. The website shows that it is an intrinsic part of Goals Soccer Centres that they include a social club with a sports bar, which also offer hosting for corporate events and so on. We would object to this. A bar does not seem suitable for a school site. Further, given the very extended opening hours which are now possible, this means that there could be almost no limits to the hours when such premises might be open, with associated car movements, or people who have been drinking leaving at any time.

I look forward to receiving your comments

Best wishes

Keith Farwell

RAID

Residents Against Inappropriate Development

c/o 7 Cecil Road

Norwich NR1 2QL