BRADFORD’S newest playing pitch strategy could lead to people losing out on outdoor exercise space, a Councillor has claimed.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) said plans to sell off playing pitches and open spaces would lead to more communities left without a nearby place to get out and get active, and called for the Council’s public health department to oppose the policy.

Announced earlier this summer, the Bradford District Playing Pitch Strategy will see major investment in a number of sites across the district, including sports hubs created at Wyke - where a new “sports village” will be created, Marley near Keighley and Myra Shay playing fields.

Other facilities across the district will be upgraded or refurbished.

However, a number of “underused” pitches will be sold on to help pay for these improvements.

£15 million plan to boost sports facilities across the Bradford District

The plan will see over £15 million in investment, but £3.5 million will come from the sale of underused sites.

The strategy was raised at a recent meeting of Bradford Council’s Health and Social Care Scrutiny Committee, when members were discussing ways to keep people healthy, and out of the care system, for longer.

Cllr Sunderland said the pitch strategy seemed to be taking outdoor space away from communities when public health policies were relying on people getting more exercise.

She said: “People need outdoor space to do activities and we might be taking that away. People with limited mobility need outdoor space. The playing pitch strategy is a disgrace, and is working against our efforts to keep people fit.”

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She said that although many facilities will be improved, other areas could lose important recreation spaces, with the former pitches likely to be sold to housing developers.

Addressing Council health officers she said: “You need to challenge this strategy. You need to go back and say it’s wrong.”

Bev Maybury, Strategic Director for Health and Wellbeing said: “Investing in sports facilities will help people in all sorts of different ways, and encourage more people to get physically active.

“It is about what we as a Council can do to get people feeling safer to go out and get more active. There is no one thing we can do that will improve everyone’s health, it has to be a number of different things.”

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Executive for Healthy People and Places, said the Council’s public health department and department of place with the strategy.

She said: “It is about how we get people healthy and active using the spaces we have available. They have to be good spaces.

“Living well and encouraging older people to stay active goes hand in hand with encouraging people to use the spaces available, they might not necessarily be recreation grounds.”

When Cllr Sunderland raised concerns that areas such as Eccleshill would lose recreation sites at the expense of the “hub” sites, Cllr Ferriby claimed the money would be invested in sites across the district, not just the hub sites.