Barrows Lane comprises two magnificent football pitches, community hall & nature corridor, for community’s precious health especially children and elderly. Enjoyed by the community of all ages since 1920 this precious land is a true community resource and asset.

Green spaces and parks generally act like the lungs of the city, cleansing and improving air quality in its proximity. We find ourselves in a David and Goliath fight with the Co-op to save the pitches and need your help. Our one ‘shot’ is to secure the best professional advice to help us to challenge the sale of the pitches to a private housing developer. The Co-op are trying to sell this land to make profit and relinquish responsibility and Persimmons Builders now want to build 120 houses on the Playing Fields. . We have pleaded with the Coop to find a way for us to retain this land, but they are determined to ignore us. Unless we can put forward a very strong viable proposal to stop them, future generations will suffer the consequences.

We Need to Keep the Playing Fields since loss of land and open sports facilities contributes to serious health, wellbeing and mental health issues. These include obesity, anxiety and social problems such as knife crime as the youth have nowhere to go. Increased health problems places, a further burden on our NHS.

The loss will also impact on wildlife habitat including Tawny owls, bats and hedgehogs as this land is part of a wildlife corridor.

Birmingham has the highest incidence of child asthma in the UK. A study of 350,000 GP medical records shows that people in urban areas who live within 1km of green spaces or parkland suffer less from respiratory diseases. Add to this that Yardley has one of the highest children road accident rates due to high and congested traffic - a trend now likely to be compounded if this planning proposal goes ahead.

Craig Gardener and Darren Carter, celebrity professional footballers started their careers on these very football pitches and support the retention of the site for today’s youngsters and future generations. The sports hall and land itself was well used for many years covering a number of events. The Co-op was respected for many years so never did we believe that they would renege on this position of TRUST.

To move retaining the site as a community asset a business plan has been prepared with a focus on keeping the two football pitches for both children and adults. There will also be a range of other community activities including:

• Encourage as many sporting activities as possible especially football for the young including girls but also ‘walking football’ for the elderly and vulnerable.

• Fitness classes for all ages and abilities

• Youth Centre activity work with Acocks Green Police and other local WM Police to defer and manage gang mentality and disruption

• Community events such as a Music festival & Garden Fete

• Area to learn road and bike safety (mini SafeSide)

• Develop an allotment and growing space.

We have lost over 20,000 football pitches in the past 10 years – don’t let Barrows Lane Playing Fields become another sad statistic. PLEASE DONATE TODAY AND JOIN THE CAMPAIGN TO SAVE OUR 'HEART' - THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!

Fay Goodman on behalf of Yardley Preservation Trust