In May 2007 residents living around Greenbank playing field received notice that a planning application had been made to the council to build a large football facility on the field. The plans outlined a 41 space car park along with a changing facility, and the whole site was to be surrounded by a 3 meter high fence. The plans had been submitted by Dappa Homes who were planning to build houses on the GMPTE land off Mount Road. Under rules set out by Sport England a football pitch that would be lost on the Mount Road site had to be replaced with a ‘like-for-like’ facility within a few miles. A sports assessment showed that there was an excess of 22 full-sized football pitches within the area and a deficit of only 2 mini pitches. We cited several other sporting facilities in the locality which would gladly receive Dappa's money for improvements.
The land known as GreenBank playing fields is used by the whole community and has a long history of festivals, fairs, fetes and sport. We felt that this development was not for the whole community and decided to find out what other people thought. That’s where the journey began. We knocked on many doors, spoke to many people and within 24 hours over 100 people had signed a petition against the development. Not all of the people who were affected by the development had even been informed by the council.
We formed a group after a successful first meeting, attended by over 50 people, and this group later became Greenbank Residents Association. Over the course of the following few months the swell of local opposition to the planned development led to the plans being redrawn. However, this new plan did not change the fact that 47% of the park would be taken for this development. Greenbank Residents' Association successfully gained the support of the Liberal Democrat Councillors in the area as well as the MP for Gorton, Gerald Kaufman. We estimate that over 400 letters of objection and a 400 strong petition were received by the planning department on this matter. Not surprisingly Dappa Homes withdrew their application!
Following this campaign the group has continued to meet. As a result of the planning application the council has agreed that improvements should be made to Greenbank, to suit the needs of the local community. We are currently consulting local residents to see what they would like to see on Greenbank.
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