Merton Council approves plans to build on former sports ground

Merton Council has approved the construction of 353 new homes and a sports centre on the site of a former sports ground despite its status as a designated Open Space.

• CPRE London remains concerned that too many playing fields which are neglected and become derelict, are eventually lost to development. We have previously worked to raise awareness on Protecting Space for Sports.

According to the Merton Local Plan (2024), the council promises to “protect and enhance the borough’s public and private open space network including protecting Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) and designated Open Spaces from inappropriate development in accordance with the London Plan and government guidance.”

This is echoed in the Greater London Authority’s own definition: “Designated Open Space includes lands designated as Green Belt, Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) and other public open spaces. These lands receive strong protected (sic.) against development and are a vital component of London’s infrastructure.”

However, under new proposals to redevelop the former NatWest Sports Ground near Norbury, more than half (55 percent) of the site will be repurposed for housing, with the remaining 45 percent put towards “sport and community uses.” (The developer confirms this remains the case despite the addition of 89 housing units.)

Despite the fact that the majority of the site is dedicated to housing, the council has granted outline permission to develop the land subject to Section 106 legal agreement and conditions. This means detailed plans are still to be submitted and the development will be referred to the GLA for a final decision.

Playing fields under threat

CPRE London has previously discussed the threats the city’s playing fields face from developers, often because they are deliberately taken out of use by private owners looking to sell-off land with a “hope value.” That is, with the prospect of future development that will increase its overall value.

As the London Playing Fields Foundation put it in their 2015 Fields of Dreams report: “… a lot of fields are lost because of neglect …As they become neglected, so they’re underused, and because they’re underused there’s no investment … the under investment leads to undervalue, and eventually that undervalue leads to under threat, and they’re gone.”

As it stands currently, the former NatWest Sports Ground contains 8.5 hectares (21 acres) of grassland and sporting facilities, including a large grass playing field, 11 small courts, a pavilion and car parking facilities. A portion of the site continues to be used by a local bowls club – Norbury Bowling Club – but the former sports ground has otherwise remained vacant since 2007, when it was reportedly fenced off.

Throughout the application process, there have been a number of objections, including from the neighboring borough of Croydon, concerning the impacts the new development will have on existing infrastructure and the destruction to “one of the last significant green spaces in the area”. One objection included in the Case Officer Report states: “Since acquiring the land, [the owner] Ruach City Church has failed to make any sporting facilities available to the public. This is a long-standing strategy to monetise a protected parcel of land.”

If the proposed plans go ahead, the former sports ground will be replaced with two hockey pitches, three padel courts, a cricket pitch, sports hall and pavilion, along with 353 new homes and an 84-bed care home. In a nod to the open space that will be lost, the designs include a village green and “interconnecting green pockets”.

While it is unsurprising given the current crisis in affordability (which we have previously spoken about) that London’s councils are looking to build new homes where they can, it should not come to the detriment of the city’s green spaces and recreational sports facilities – which is why we are calling for a London-wide sports development strategy to support recreational sports in the Capital.

We asked the developer Matt 6:33 LLP to respond to objections that the scheme is “primarily a housing development” and that the “proposed mass development will destroy one of the last significant green spaces in this area.” A spokesperson replied:

The Council considered the application carefully against Merton’s Local Plan (2024) and London Plan policies on the protection of open space and playing fields.

The site has been vacant and unused for organised sport for over a decade, and its reactivation for community sporting use was a major consideration in the decision.

The approved scheme restores sport as the primary use of the land, delivering £12.26 million of new, modern facilities for hockey, cricket, football, and indoor sport, alongside new public green space and biodiversity gains.

The associated housing element is enabling development—its role is to fund the delivery and long-term maintenance of the new sporting infrastructure. Officers and the Planning Committee were satisfied that the benefits of re-providing and enhancing sport and recreation outweigh the loss of former derelict grass pitches, consistent with Policy N3.6 of the Merton Local Plan.