A West Heath primary school's quest for a new sports pitch has once again been met with opposition and concern from neighbouring houses and Sport England.

William Sharpe, headteacher Quinta Primary School, has resubmitted plans to introduce a new 2G sand dressed artificial grass sports pitch on its existing playing fields.

Quinta Primary School is located off Ullswater Road, to the western side of Congleton. The school site is bound by residential use to the north, east and south.

The proposed new artificial pitch is located on part of the existing school playing fields which currently comprises a grassed area used for informal sports and PE.

Quinta Primary School has over 400 pupils and their numbers are "growing" year on year.

The school and site were originally opened as a single form entry school and the site has not been developed to respond to "significant changes" that have occurred.

A similar proposal for an artificial sports pitch by Black Firs Primary School was granted planning consent in 2016, following support by Sport England and has been completed, "providing a significant enhancement to the sporting opportunities" for the school.

In a design and access statement, submitted to support the application, the report stated: "The proposals put forward under this application bear a strong resemblance to those previously approved at Black Firs Primary School."

In March 2020, a planning application was submitted for a new outdoor sports pitch at Quinta Primary School.

Throughout that application, detailed discussions were held between the school and Sport England following an initial consultation response from the statutory consultee, Sport England.

As a result of these discussions, the proposals for the pitch were reduced in size and additional supporting documentation was provided to evidence the need and benefits of the new pitch to the school and the local sporting community.

However, Sport England upheld an objection to the scheme on the grounds of insufficient justification for the artificial pitch in place of the grassed pitch, which existed at the school to demonstrate that its provision would be of sufficient benefit to the development of sport as to outweigh the detriment caused by the loss, or prejudice to the use, of the area of playing field.

The previous application was withdrawn in January 2021 to allow further additional research to be undertaken, including a more thorough assessment of the existing grassed pitch at the school.

The assessment included the issues the school faced with the pitch on a daily basis, a comparative assessment of the chosen surfacing for the pitch with other available alternatives to ensure the "best" proposals were put forward.

More detailed discussions were also held between the applicant's agent, Jay Ashall Partnership, and the application's planning contact at Sport England.

The design and access statement added: "The current application has been submitted following this extensive research and appraisal and provides further justification as requested with regard to the need for the facility and the pitch type proposed to address the previous comments of Sport England."

The proposed development is for the provision of a new Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) which measures 53m by 35.7m and is located to the south east of the school site.

This would enable the formal marking of two five-aside football pitches of 37m by 18.5m with run off and three netball courts measuring 15.2m by 30.5m each, one full size tennis court and two mini tennis courts.

The MUGA also includes a 50m running track and a rounders pitch. The provision of the MUGA would also allow the school to use the area for PE, training and a variety of sports informally such as hockey, basketball, rugby, cricket and athletics.

The design and access statement added: "All of the previous sporting facilities of the grassed pitch are now catered for on the all-weather surface pitches.

"There will therefore be no loss of sporting facilities on the site, only an increase in sporting availability and a gain in the use of facilities all-year round."

It is proposed that the facilities would be used by the school during the school day but would be offered to community groups at the evening and weekends and outside of the school term. However, no flood lighting is proposed around the pitch.

The proposals include a maximum 1.5m high metal mesh welded fence to the eastern and southern boundaries of the pitch located on a small retaining wall to provide a level playing surface.

According to the plans, the fence would provide a 2.3m ball barrier from within the MUGA, but due to topography, the fence would have no "greater impact" than a 1.5m fence when viewed from the neighbouring properties.

The proposals would not affect existing access and parking on the site.

The existing grassed playing fields and pitch at the school are currently used for a variety of sports but, currently, the grassed pitch is "unable" to be used following a period of bad weather.

The design and access statement continued: "The proposals would therefore provide a significant benefit over and above the existing facility available to the school and community, enhancing the school's sporting opportunities for pupils and enabling the use of the pitch by local sporting groups at all times of the year."

Prior to the submission of an application for a new MUGA, the school undertook a strategic view of their sporting aims and how they could be implemented.

Their aim is for pupils who leave the school to be proficient in three core sports. To achieve this aim, the school needs to deliver three hours of sport for each pupil to deliver each strand in a one-hour lesson.

Currently, according to the school, this is only achievable in the first and final half term of the school year.

This was trialled in 2019-2020 and was "very successful", but the school were "unable" to implement their strategy when the field was "too wet".

The application added: "The current provision is dangerous. The entire field is uneven, with poor drainage, dangerous holes and large stones.

"The field is unusable between the months of November and January, Therefore, of the 11 months in school, it is only in use for six."

The school are hoping to generate the funds for their new sports pitch through Sport England or National Lottery funding. However, they wished to seek planning consent in the first instance.

The school currently pays in the region of £1,800 a year for their existing grassed pitch to be maintained.

It is recognised in Sport England's guidance that an artificial pitch does not cost any more than the maintenance costs of a natural grass pitch.

The existing facility is reached via a soft surface with no access path. The proposals would provide a hard surface, which would abut and extend off the current playground. making ease of access to wheelchair users and hard surfacing has been "tailored" to the western side of the pitch for spectators, away from the neighbouring properties.

The school has undertaken consultation with the community and groups such as Goal Coaching have shown a "strong" interest in using the new facilities to enable them to "expand" their current provision.

However, the plans have once again been met with opposition from neighbouring residents.

At the time of writing this article, there were 10 submitted objections on Cheshire East's planning portal.

An Ullswater Road homeowner who objected to the application said: "I have concerns regarding the traffic and additional traffic congestion along Ullswater Road, which already causes problems for residents.

"This will become even worse on evenings when the school hall is hired out or when there is a parents' event at the school.

"I don't believe the school has adequate parking capacity to accommodate this additional facility.

"I also have objections to any late opening of the pitch due to the noise this will generate and the disturbance of the peace. In particular at the weekend.

"The current groups using the grass fields are children, the new pitch will be hired by adults who are louder and use much more offensive language."

Another Ullswater Road resident said: "My back garden backs onto the school field and would strongly object to a huge fence, we already struggle to exit our property at drop off and pick up time.

"Due to the volume of cars parking both sides and opposite our drive with it being the first parking space from the yellow markings, we strongly feel this application would make this unbearable throughout the evening and weekend with the school turning into an events and sports venue.

"I also feel this would affect the wildlife, removal of a large grass area replaced with astroturf would remove a large food source for all the birds, mice squirrels, hedgehogs and more.

"I do feel this sort of thing should be left for the larger secondary schools, where parking and the infrastructure is already in place or on one of the many new buildings sites popping up everywhere, so infrastructure can be put in place."

Sport England's interim position on the latest proposal is to submit a holding objection whilst they seek clarity on a number of areas and issues.

However, they stated they would "happily" review their position following the receipt of all the further information requested.

The last date for submitting comments on the application, which can be viewed here is 29th April.

Cheshire East are expected to make a decision on the application through delegated powers by 12th May.