No Welcome To The Tennis Dome
Planners recommend refusal of Kings House Sports Ground application
Kings House Sports Ground, Chiswick
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An application to build a temporary air dome on the Kings House Sports Ground has been recommended for refusal by Hounslow Council planners.
The proposal is for the erection of a seasonal structure over four tennis courts. It is due to be considered at a forthcoming planning committee meeting after being ‘called in’ by Councillor John Todd.
The site is located on the eastern side of playing fields formerly known as the Civil Service Sports Ground. It falls within the Dukes Meadows Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) and the Thames Policy Area.
The dome would cover an area of approximately 2073 square metres (68.7 metres by 30.2 metres) and would have a maximum height of 11 metres. It would be put up only between October and March for the next ten years.
The officer’s report into the plan argues that whilst the proposal would result in a marginally more sports facilities, the benefits to the community and to sporting provisions at the site would not outweigh the ‘significant’ harm caused to the openness of the MOL which would result from the ‘dominant’ visual appearance of the dome.
Covering areas of MOL can only be done in ‘very special circumstances’ and it is contended that these do not apply in this situation therefore the application is contrary to the intent of the borough’s Development Plan.
The use would accord with the opening hours of the sports club and existing restrictions on floodlighting (ceasing at 10pm).
The applicant had offered free use of the facility and equipment with coaching to borough primary schools which it valued at around £80,000 per annum. However, the borough’s leisure department told planners that there was already provision of tennis to local school children through an arrangement with the Dukes Meadows club and an additional provision would mean that the east of the borough would be over-served compared with other parts of Hounslow.
Middlesex LTA have expressed an interest in using the dome for county training squads and junior tennis development during peak sessions.
The planners state that the structure would be a highly prominent addition and would be readily visible from both nearby roads, owing to gaps in the tree/vegetation belt (particularly during the winter months the dome is proposed for, when trees are bare
The Kings House Sports Ground also has a planning application in progress to convert grass playing fields to an artificial multi-use sports pitch. The planning reference for this application is P/2020/1063.
The planning committee is due to consider the application to build the dome at a meeting on Thursday, 6 August at 5:00 pm.
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August 2, 2020
