2 minute summary

How did we get here?

This is a tale of two boroughs – Lambeth and Wandsworth – each having its own rights over different aspects of the application. Half the Common lies within the LB of Lambeth and half within the LB Wandsworth.

Let’s start with Lambeth…

Lambeth has jurisdiction over the everyday running of the whole Common unless planning consent is needed for projects that fall on Wandsworth’s side. In that case, applications have to go to the LB Wandsworth.

In January 2020, Lambeth signed a contract with a private enterprise called Putt in the Park (PITP) giving the go ahead for a mini-golf course under ‘permitted development’ – which means they didn’t need to ask for Wandsworth’s permission even though it’s on their side. There was no credible public consultation and it failed to catch anyone’s attention for the best part of a year – we were all in lockdown! However, PITP also wanted to use the Pavilion next to the bowling greens as a bar and cafe for their customers as well as corporate events, and in order to do this they need to ask Wandsworth for planning/licensing permission.

The whole PITP project hit the headlines and came under scrutiny and Wandsworth received over 150 objections to the proposal. The Friends and local protest groups joined forces to start investigating exactly what the mini-golf course and the attached bar would really entail.

Instead of a simple putting green, we found an enormous new build had been planned for the site. This would include using hundreds of tonnes of compacted hardcore and covering 2000 sq.m of open grassland in 6 tonnes of petrochemical plastic grass – the equivalent weight of half a million carrier bags!

We discovered a phoney set of overstated biodiversity claims – you may have seen these plastered on the side of the Pavilion – which amounted to little more than a shopping list of commonplace plants and shrubs from the local garden centre. No real specialist plants to support our declining invertebrate species. 

Similarly, claims that their shallow concrete water feature – really designed to catch golf balls – was a wildlife pond to support frogs and newts also failed to the pass the eco test. Using these tactics to get planning approval is called ‘greenwashing’ and it’s what companies do to convince the public its products are environmentally friendly. The reality being, if the project goes ahead, the landscape would be lost forever.

Now let’s look at Wandsworth…

Last November the application for the Pavilion came before the Wandsworth Planning Committee (2020/2536) and they unanimously rejected the proposal – citing a loss of amenity to the neighbourhood, loss of public rights across the common, concerns over the greens being replaced with plastic and the loss of public use. PITP immediately put in an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate to overturn the decision.

As required by law under the Commons Act, PITP also had to submit an additional application to the Secretary of State in order to ‘build’ on Common land. This now gave us all the opportunity to submit our own letters of objection and to challenge the wider project as a whole (FCC Newsflash – March). A huge ‘thank you’ to all those who wrote in and to our six local Councillors who also wrote letters of objection.

This part of the assessment from the Secretary of State is still ongoing and we won’t know the outcome for several months.

What’s new…

Although addled by the lack of public support, Lambeth has backed itself into a corner as it already signed the preliminary contract with PITP and now can’t entertain alternative suggestions for the site unless PITP decide to walk away – we want you to know there are many other ‘green’ options and proposals for the site.

Given the endless delays and the groundswell of public opinion against the project, PITP’s enthusiasm is waning. It finds its future business reliant on deeply unpopular plastic surfaces and is in the spotlight for accelerating the climate emergency. 

We have around 5000 signatories on the petition against the project and the support of six local Councillors. All efforts are now focussed on stopping the appeal going through – the deadline is 12th May.

We have successfully registered the bowling greens as an ‘Asset of Community Value’, which will help in protecting them from development and we are in the process of seeking the same status for the Pavilion.

As governments around the world now mobilise to cut global emissions and climate change issues have become stitched into common consciousness, many people are asking how they can do their bit to save the planet. Well, plastic grass has one of the largest carbon footprints of all exterior surfacing materials, one of the shortest shelf lives and it blocks all carbon storage by preventing trees and shrubs taking root.