Useful day yesterday at the home of sporting controversy, Twickenham, visiting the Sports and Play Construction Association (SAPCA) Sports Facility Construction Event. Nice venue, being sustainable I thought I would walk the 15 minutes journey from tube to stadium only to find that 15 minutes must have been running and not walking!

As well as a comprehensive array of exhibitors covering everything from non-turf pitches, floodlights to sports hall construction there were a number of seminars. The one of particular interest from a planning point of view was that delivered by the Deputy CEO of Fields in Trust, Don Earley, which covered their response to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consultation period. Concerns were eloquently raised over the perceived and actual shortcomings in the NPPF compared to the predecessor PPG 17 and how this could leave sports fields in a more vulnerable position.

This was my first experience of SAPCA and it was impressive although disappointing that more people did not attend as I know from my own experience in professional sport and event management how much work is involved. There is no doubt that the sports agenda continues to gather momentum politically as health and welfare issues continue to dominate government thinking and it is nice to think that we at Foxley Tagg Planning are technically well equipped and hugely experienced in this arena.

Mark Tagg