London Maccabi Vale Cricket Club

London Maccabi Vale Cricket Club - Outdoor Nets Application

Application Update
Updated August 18th 2011

Brilliant news - Planning permission has been granted. Now let's get those plans dusted down and ready to be built early in 2012 for the start of the season.

Great effort by our Project Manager, Jonathan Freedman.

Updated July 2011

In the last couple of weeks we have been told by Barnet Council that our planning application for outdoor nets at Rowley Lane has been accepted but we will need to wait till 1st September to hear if planning permission has been granted.
 
To keep club members up to date, we have uploaded to the website, a copy of the design and access statement for this project and some drawings of the nets themselves that accompanied the planning application.
 
We will update members as soon as any further information is available.
Please find below the design and access statement we had to submit prior to having the application accepted.

Design & Access Statement for  the Proposal to Erect Outdoor Cricket Practice Nets on Existing Hardstanding.
Ref B/02493/11VDC 

This application for cricket practice nets is being submitted in order to enhance the playing and practice facilities available for cricketers at Rowley Lane Sports Ground. The decision to make this application was reached between a number of parties including the site owners, local management and the sporting organisations who consider Rowley Lane Sports Ground to be their “home” pitch. All parties considered that the addition of permanent cricket practice nets would be an enhancement to the site and offer an improved facility for members of all ages from the youngest cricket colts at 11 years old to senior players currently in their 60’s.

The area of the site which has been selected and agreed for this development is currently used for hardstanding of football goals and is in fact a concrete slab which is in a poor state of repair. The area cannot be used for any other sporting activity due to its relatively small size within the whole sports ground and it’s current state of disrepair. The game of cricket both in competitive matches and practice is one that is often significantly affected by adverse weather conditions which lead to grass surfaces being to soft and skiddy to effectively play the game. The addition of outdoor practice nets designed using a concrete base and artificial grass allows cricketers to undertake outdoor practice on many more occasions particularly through April and May when weather conditions are much more unpredictable. The main application and drawings of the nets and show that they are of a minimum size required to achieve their function i.e. able to replicate a 22 yard cricket pitch with sufficient space for a bowler to “run up” to their delivery. As indicated on the plan of the whole Rowley Lane Sports Ground, the nets will take up an extremely small fraction of the total area.

The following 2 pictures provide some illustration of the likely visual effect on the environment by the erection of cricket practice nets. At the centre of the first picture from Google Earth it is possible to see the existing area of hardstanding with a clutter of football goals left for outdoor storage. The second picture (taken from a development at another site) illustrates: the treatment given to the flooring i.e. made flat and level with the surrounding ground, laid with green artificial turf and the preservation of sight lines through the net structure itself which is particularly pleasing as the net will be sited in an area surrounded by existing greenery.





There is likely to be a choice of colour (black & green) available for the netting material itself but as the main application indicates, black netting will be used as we are told that this colour is less likely to change as it ages.As the proposed  scheme is not visible from either Rowley Lane or the A1 the construction of cricket practice nets should have no adverse effect on any of the site’s neighbours. We do not believe that the proposed scheme will have a significant effect on the quantity of traffic accessing the sports ground site with the exception of attendees at the small number of extra practice sessions that will be possible during April and May.

July 2011