East Malling 3G Pitch Plan With Floodlights Until 10pm

The Malling School has applied to build a floodlit 3G football pitch on its playing field off Clare Lane in East Malling. The plans include a changing block and a new 68-space car park. Clubs and community groups would be able to book the pitch on weekday evenings and at weekends.

The application is 26/01981/FL on Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s planning portal. The council validated it on Tuesday 10 November. Neighbours have until Friday 4 December to comment.

What the school wants to build

The school’s design, access and planning statement, written by the sports surfacing consultancy Surfacing Standards, lists:

• a 97m by 61m artificial grass pitch with a 3G surface
• six floodlight columns, each 15m high
• a 4.5m ball-stop fence around the pitch, in moss green
• a modular toilet and changing block
• a storage container for kit and maintenance equipment
• a 68-space car park, with three accessible bays and ten 5m lighting columns
• cycle stands for ten bikes

The pitch would be marked out for every age group, according to the same statement:

The school says the grass field gets waterlogged and is closed for parts of the season. A 3G surface could be used all year.

When it would be open

The school is asking for these hours, according to its statement:

• Monday to Saturday: 8am to 10pm, with the lights off and the site locked by 10.15pm
• Sundays and bank holidays: 9am to 8pm, locked by 8.15pm

The school’s own draft noise management plan gives shorter weekend hours, 8am to 8pm on both Saturday and Sunday. The council will set the final hours if it approves the plan.

Only groups with a signed lettings agreement would be allowed on the pitch, the noise plan says. Its booking terms would cover noise and bad language.

Noise, lights and traffic

The nearest homes are about 50m south-west of the pitch, according to the statement. The school’s noise assessment predicts 47 decibels at those homes over an hour. That is below the World Health Organization’s 50 decibel level for “moderate community annoyance”. Rubber washers on the fence fixings are meant to cut the rattle of balls hitting the mesh.

The floodlights would switch off automatically at the curfew, on time clocks. The ecology report sets a full cut-off by 10.15pm to protect bats.

Cars would use the existing two entrances on Clare Lane, with no change to the junctions. The school’s transport note, by Paul Basham Associates, works out the busiest case. With all four 5-a-side pitches in use, up to 68 people could be on site. That could mean up to 136 car trips in an hour on weekday evenings and weekends. The note’s “more realistic” figure, assuming half of players share lifts or walk, is 68 trips an hour.

Outside clubs make very little use of the field now. A local football team plays there on Sunday afternoons, the transport note says. There is no regular bus service in the village. East Malling station is about 1km away.

The heritage question

The field sits inside the Clare Park and Blacklands Conservation Area. It is also part of the historic park and garden of Clare House, a Grade I listed building. The school’s heritage assessment accepts the pitch would cause “less than substantial harm”, at the lower end of the scale, mainly through lost openness. It argues the benefits for sport outweigh that.

Sport England must be consulted, because the plan replaces part of a grass playing field. The school says it will sign a community use agreement in Sport England’s standard form before the pitch opens.

The plans also deal with cricket. A wicket shows on old satellite images of the field. The school says no cricket has been played there since 2007, and that cricket now takes place on its hard court instead.

Two trees would come down: one Category C tree and part of a Category C group, the statement says. The veteran oak on the site would be kept. The school’s ecologists say new planting would deliver a 20% biodiversity net gain, against the legal minimum of 10%.

What it means for you

• If you live near Clare Lane or Mill Street, the floodlights, the evening hours and the car park are the parts most likely to affect you. You can comment on the application online until 4 December.
• If you run or play for a local club, the school says income from bookings will pay for upkeep and a fund to resurface the pitch after about ten years. It has not yet published hire prices.
• Who decides: the planning portal lists the application as one for council officers to decide, rather than the planning committee. By Thursday 12 November the council had published 13 public comments on it, all in support.