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 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 and a number of inaccurate and misleading claims by local objectors were scrutinized and rejected. Although he accepted 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 was submitted to Harrow Council in July 2009. A summary of the application can be seen here.  To see full details of the application, and for the opportunity to comment online, click here and then, in  "Application Search" box, enter the application number: P/1546/09