The proposal to upgrade the outdated Co-op sports facilities at Footscray Playing Fields was given the green light by Greenwich Council’s Planning Board on December 2.
GB10 Sports will build two 11-a-side floodlit AstroTurf pitches, five grass pitches of various sizes, six floodlit padel courts, a children’s play area, a car park and a brand new clubhouse at the site to replace the former one that burned down in 2004. The new facility off Footscray Road will be accessible to the community as well as becoming the new academy base for AFC Greenwich Borough.
The proposal garnered significant public interest, with several borough residents speaking for and against it at the Planning Board meeting. Several residents of Inca Drive, which backs directly onto the Footscray site, feared the introduction of padel courts less than 100 metres from their homes would cause serious noise issues.
Paul Baines lives with his wife in a flat at the end of Inca Drive and he said the sports complex would have a “seriously negative impact” on their daily lives, mainly due to noise.
He said “mass cheering, chanting and swearing” would have a negative impact on the “small and impressionable children” that play in his property’s communal garden. He also felt that flood lighting would “make it incredibly difficult to enjoy any peace at home, let alone rest properly”.
Joanne McKetry, another resident at the end of Inca Drive, said noise from the Charlton Athletic training ground 200 metres away can be heard in her flat, even to the point that she knows which players are playing. She added: “This proposal would bring intensively-used floodlit pitches three times closer, just 60 metres from our bedrooms and our living rooms.”
Chris Manyan lives on Green Lane, another road near to the site. He said he had spoken to an acoustic consultant about the noise generated by the site and was told “there are so many holes in this GB10 proposal you could drive a bus through it”.
Speaking in support of the proposal, Greenwich Borough’s director of football Tony Russell said the club’s teams were currently scattered throughout South East London. He said: “Imagine the impact of bringing everyone under one roof, building community spirit and giving our kids a place to call home.”
He also said the GB10 site hadn’t seen real investment in decades, and the football club wanted to “restore this site into one of the best sports facilities for the next generation”.
Joel Hegby, a 14-year-old Greenwich Borough player from Woolwich, also spoke in support of the plans. He played for Charlton from the age of five but after an opportunity to play for Arsenal fell through when he was 12, Joel’s passion for football faded.
However, he joined Greenwich Borough at a grassroots level and said “this was the start of me loving the game again.” He said that since playing for Greenwich, he had garnered interest from Newcastle, Everton and Brighton. Joel said of the sports complex plans: “It would be great to have this amazing facility in the borough of Greenwich. To have a safe place to keep practicing would mean so much for me and hundreds of boys and girls.”
GB10 owners Brett Smith and Garry Fiore said they wanted to deliver a “safe, vibrant, community-focused sports hub”. Both men have backgrounds in grassroots and professional football, and decided to create their own club eight years ago as Welling United, now known as AFC Greenwich Borough.
Brett said their proposal had beaten bids from David Lloyd, housing developers and a “large Youtube organisation” to secure the Foots’s Cray site in 2023. He added: “We were not the highest bidder, but the feedback from the Co-op was that they selected us as the new custodians of the Co-op ground based on our community and social value footprint and upon our plans to bring this dilapidated Co-op ground back to life as a sustainable, community sports venue.”
In response to concerns over noise generated by the padel courts, the owners said they had engaged with Greenwich planners and residents during the pre-application stage and the final position near Inca Drive was determined to be the best option.
They also suggested that as a result of their own testing, padel wouldn’t generate any more noise than when tennis was played on the current courts. Brett confirmed that floodlighting would only be directed at the football pitches and wouldn’t be shining into people’s homes.
Cllr Dave Sullivan was wholly supportive of the plans. He said: “In my opinion, what’s being proposed here is an excellent contribution to the wellbeing of residents living in this borough. Of course there are some people that are losers, everyone cannot be a winner, but we know we are benefitting thousands of people, not just now but for generations, and I think we should be supporting this.”
Cllr Pat Greenwell took the opposite view, feeling the proposal pitted “the wider community against the local community”. She did acknowledge the benefits of the site but thought the sports complex would increase traffic problems in the area and create rat runs in residential roads. She also felt for the plight of the Inca Drive residents, and felt the inclusion of padel courts “was just too much” when it came to noise.
Despite Cllr Greenwell’s misgivings, all other councillors on the Planning Board supported the plans. The proposal was approved due to the health and wellbeing benefits the complex would bring to Greenwich residents.
