Jonathan Dunn, the Chairman of the Udney Park Community Fields Foundation, wrote to the representatives of the owners of Udney Park at the end of March, to express concern about the deterioration of the war memorial pavilion. A copy of this open letter is as below –
Giving women and girls the opportunity to play sport was at the forefront of the Udney Park proposal. I would therefore love to give an upcoming game of rugby a special mention
Thamesians RFC are one of the stakeholder clubs in the Foundation. In the last five years they have had to move pitches three times (from Marble Hill to Waldegrave School to St Marys University).
You may all have noticed that a new hoarding is going up around the war memorial pavilion. This is part of efforts by the new owners to protect the building from continuing vandalism. The new owners have confirmed that this is part of remedial plan to include-
In the six years to 2012 the UK lost 54,000 acres of green space, mostly to housing. That has continued with 215 school playing fields sold between 2010 and 2019. In the case of Udney Park it is not a case of the government selling off the family silver as the land is privately owned. The impact of the site remaining out of use is the nevertheless the same with diminishing areas of playing fields for amateur sport available in the borough.
