Background

St George's Field is approximately 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres) of private land, including the 1st Headstone Scout headquarters, which is owned by the Church. The land was purchased by the Parochial Church Council (PCC) in 1922 for the use of St George's Church, and for many years served as a valuable resource. Over a number of years, however, the land has progressively fallen out of use as lifestyles have changed and nearby professionally maintained outdoor facilities have improved.

St George's has a legal obligation to secure the best reasonably obtained price for its assets if no longer required. The PCC has considered a number of proposals for the future of St George's Field since it first endorsed the principle of a partial development of the land over twenty years ago.

 An informal hearing took place on 8 October 2008. In his Decision Notice the Planning Appeal Inspector accepted the planning arguments for the size and character of the proposed scheme. Although he endorsed the principle that a more intensive use of the retained open space would outweigh the loss of part of the site to housing, the Inspector considered that such future use needed to be set out in more detail. The appeal was therefore dismissed.
The Inspector's Decision Notice can be seen here.

A planning application, P/1546/09, was submitted to Harrow Council in July 2009. A summary of the application can be seen here.  After discussions with Harrow Planning Department the proposal was amended by the Church's offer to donate the retained open space to the Council for public use. The amended application was recommended for acceptance by Harrow Planning Department but refused by the Council's Planning Committee in September 2010. An appeal on behalf of the PCC was received by the Planning Inspectorate in December 2010.