News

A year ago, Quantum abandoned plans to build luxury apartments and a doctor’s surgery on 50% of the playing area and sold the site to another developer. Now the fields are to be sold again. Quantum concluded that Udney Park playing fields could not be developed This was not before they had spent between £3m and £4m on trying to overturn planning restrictions. The site has an ACV designation under the Localism Act, so once Quantum decided to sell, they were obliged to engage with the community bid for a six-month moratorium period, during which time they could not sell to anyone else. No meaningful engagement took place within this period. A direct appeal to Lord Fink (the Chair of Quantum), by our local MP Munira Wilson, was effectively ignored.

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-