Member News
By John Woodcock MP - 16th August 2011
A 'community right to buy' for bowling greens would allow people to band together and purchase the green for themselves and maintain it as a community asset, says John Woodcock MP.
This article was first featured on March 28 2011, ahead of John Woodcock's debate on the subject.
In much of Britain, the bowling green is as close to the heart of the community as the local post office, pub or corner shop. Bowling, in both lawn and crown green form, is immensely popular, with as many as 400,000 participants across the country. This popularity links the leafiest of Surrey villages with northern industrial towns. Bowling is a very social sport; clubs are often genuine community hubs, and for many of its players – including the many older people who play – it is a fantastic way to keep physically fit and mentally agile.
Despite the fact that there is no sign that the popularity of bowling is waning, it is a sport under great threat. Since being elected as MP for Barrow and Furness last May, many local people have raised with me their concern over the loss of bowling greens to development. I've been told stories of padlocks on gates being superglued shut by owners of greens in order to prove that they are disused. Since beginning to raise the issue of bowling green loss in Parliament, I have been inundated with offers of support from colleagues of all parties – this is genuinely a national issue. But this is also a personal issue for me, dating back to my days as a somewhat unsuccessful junior crown green bowler in Sheffield.
Bowling greens are being hit by a double whammy of threats. Firstly, large numbers of greens are attached to pubs and social clubs. As such businesses struggle financially, selling the green for development becomes very attractive to the owners. Secondly, as cuts to local authority budgets begin to bite, selling, or at least ceasing to maintain, bowling greens rises up the agenda of many councils. This is potentially the fate of Britain's most famous bowling green, that on Plymouth Hoe, with the City Council threatening to cut funding for several of the greens.
Whilst bowling greens, like most sports facilities, are in theory protected by planning law, and cannot be disposed of without being shown to be surplus to requirements, it is increasingly clear that these regulations are not working. The protection of bowling greens bill that I will introduce today strengthens planning safeguards so a green that is used by an existing team cannot be built over unless local bowlers actively consent to the sell-off.
The bill would also introduce a 'community right to buy' for bowling greens, allowing people to club together and form a co-operative to purchase the green for themselves and maintain it as a community asset.
Bowling has for centuries been a sport that has enriched the communities we represent. At present, no-one in England is more than 15 miles from the cry of 'jack high'.
We should endeavour to ensure that remains the case for centuries to come.
John Woodcock MP was elected Labour/Co-op MP for Barrow and Furness in 2010.
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