Letchworth Garden City Sports Village: Executive Report Analysis

This executive report details the proposed Letchworth Garden City Sports Village project, aiming to create a 21st-century sports hub at Baldock Road. The report outlines the background, which includes the relocation and re-provision of existing facilities, and addresses issues like car parking, sustainability, and partnerships. The development will include an 8-lane athletics track, fitness gym, sports hub parking, cricket pitch, cycling facilities, football pitches, and tennis courts, among other amenities. The report recommends endorsement of the project with its master plan, the commencement of planning consultation, and delegation of powers to stakeholders for contract approvals. The project will be delivered in stages, with funding from national sports agencies and local partners, aiming to attract new residents and visitors while fostering town pride. The report also discusses the importance of car parking solutions, sustainability, and strategic partnerships to ensure the project's success.

Letchworth Garden City
Submitted to
Date

Table of Contents
Background..................................................................................................................................4
Facilities and Car parking............................................................................................................5
Car Parking..................................................................................................................................8
Partners........................................................................................................................................9
Green belts and other concerns..................................................................................................11
Sustainability.............................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................16

Letchworth Garden City
EXECUTIVE REPORT
The Development Foundation in Letchworth
Elected Mayor, XYZ
ABC, Executive Director for Neighbourhoods and Communities
Date 15th March 2017
PURPOSE OF THE REPORT
1. The prime purpose of the report is to provide the Foundation and its people with an
update and thereby seek for the approval of the ambition towards the creation of sports
hub or sports village (at Baldock Road in Letchworth). This report will outline the
background, development, issues related to the creation, timescales and other options
related to cost and time.
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
2. It is recommended that the stakeholders and the Executive:

a) Are endorsing the Sports Village at Baldock Road in Letchworth with its master
plan, issues, timescales and infrastructure development;
b) Are approving consultation for the commencement of the planning for the Sports
Village and submit the planning applications.
c) Are delegating the powers to the stakeholders including the Executive Director
for the Foundation in order to approve the contracts regarding the construction of
the Sports Village. The papers and contracts will include the preparation and
preparative work accordingly.
BACKGROUND AND EXTERNAL CONSULTATION
Background
1. The ambition of creating an iconic twenty-first century Sports Village at Baldock Road in
Letchworth. The process will include the relocation and even the re-provision of some of
the existing facilities provided by the Foundation. The ambition for the Sports Village at
Baldock Road in Letchworth will extend beyond the Sports Village per se. A new staff
car parking will be served by a new northern road access towards the Radburn Way. This
will be helpful in reducing the traffic on the Baldock Road and particularly to the
pressure existing Hertfordshire FA on the current junction. Commitments are to be done
as quickly as possible and an attractive landscape setting has to be provided for
supporting the quality open space for recreation. This open space will in turn complement
the Sports Village and Letchworth Garden City. The plan suggested by the Foundation to
the stakeholders allows an additional area of about 150 unit housing site on its southern
edge. The capital receipts that were generated from the Letchworth Garden City were
reused for investing in the delivery of the Sports Village.

Letchworth Garden City has a relatively strong provision of local sporting facilities in the
town. There are however a number of threats to this provision over the next 10 to 15
years. These include the costs of maintenance of the open-air pool, the long-term future
of North Herts Leisure Centre and the poor condition of many private clubs’ facilities
which require upgrading. The Development Foundation in Letchworth is therefore
considering the potential to create a sports hub or sports village to serve the town. They
have identified a site at Baldock Road in Letchworth and will shortly be engaging with
local clubs and stakeholders to identify whether they are supportive of the project and
would like to participate.
The primary ambition for the Sports Village and its creation is to provide a new and
refreshing, iconic as well as regional sports destination for promoting it as a source of
attracting the new residents and visitors and as a symbol of town pride (Greenberg, M. J.,
& Hughes Jr, D., 2011).
Facilities and Car parking
The Foundation will commit towards obtaining a long-term ambition for the Sports Village,
which will contain a centre for mainstream and specialist sports and will help in supporting the
sporting growth along with maintaining the economic development and health of the people. The
purpose of the Sports Village is to make the town a better and comfortable place to live. The
project of Sports Village will help in providing a broad mix of sporting as well as leisure
opportunities in the outstanding setting. The Sports Village will help in allowing for the
development of sporting excellence along with the provision of being available for each and
every resident. However, the whole process of new Sports Village is going to be delivered in a
plethora of stages involving the funding and the opportunities. Further, the project will be seen to
prove highly attractive towards the national sports funding agencies that will also be asked to

support the scheme and the Letchworth Garden City will also be asked to become the partners
along with various other local sports club in this project.
As per the current allocation, the Sports Village will include the following facilities:
- 800m, field and stadium, eight lane athletics track with the provision of seating
for all the spectators;
- 75 station fitness gym and studios;
- small sized ATPs;
- sports hub parking provision;
- re-provided cricket pitch;
- Retained cycling facilities-1km circuit and skateboard plaza.
- grass junior and senior football pitches;
- improved outdoor courts and enhanced and extended indoor tennis courts;
- full size flood lit Artificial Turf Pitch (ATP);
- relevant changing provision and;
- Reception, offices and café facilities.
As the part of the first phase of the establishment of the new junction, residential development
will also be provided along with the Sports Village. The overall plan for the Sports Village will
include the family-oriented, high-quality and housing developments for expanding the local
housing choices, this includes the:
- Letchworth Garden City Rugby Club (approx. 100 units) and;
- Hertfordshire FA (approx. 80 units).
These sites were identified with extensive planning and were marketed subsequently along with
the agreements in place for their development. A part of both of these will be used for car

parking. Additionally, the money raised from the funds of Letchworth Garden City Rugby Club
will also be ring-fenced for contributing towards the costs of the Sports Village. The Sports
Village and its wider long-term ambition will help in allowing for the extensive range of
facilities and activities which includes:
- swimming and learner pools;
- wet and dry changing provision;
- additional car parking provision;
- new cycling facilities - 550m outdoor velodrome and mountain bike / BMX skills
track;
- major sports hall, that will have to provision for being used as a club venue for
netball and basketball teams, roller hockey with associated roll out seating and;
- Possible complimentary retail / commercial provision.
There is a need to develop a future ambition within all the phases whenever more funding will be
possible. Along with the development, the foundation will review various models of delivery for
ensuring the facilities that offer the best mix from the management and provision position.
When the process will be completed, various competitive events for athletics ranging from track
and field, cycling, tracking etc., will be held along with the facilities like football for a regional
standing.
The new facility will try to learn from the Letch worth Garden and its outdated stadium and
facilities and will offer the state of the art provision along with various design guides and will
also include 20 lane straight and 10 lane bends which are currently not being provided by any
Sports centre in the nearby area. The new facility will therefore meet all the national completion
standards and the additional resources will allow the disabled athletes to complete in all the

events that were incorporated into the design of the scheme in the part of the Phase 1
development.
Car Parking
One of the major issue for the availability of car parking which will influence the behaviour of
the visitors, residents and the staff members. Further, the issue with the car parking is that it will
take a large amount of space in the development and is very costly to the business and will also
lead to reduction of development densities.
Therefore the Foundation is aimed towards improving the quality of the town centres parking so
as to provide a safe and secure, convenient along with appropriate provision for motorists. The
plan is to set maximum level of car parking along with the provision of the cycle parking,
motorcycle parking etc for the broad classes of development expect for the disabled people who
will have their different section of Transport Assessment/Statement, a higher car parking need.
Parking charges will be taken for ensuring that the vitality of the centre is not being undermined
while the parking enforcement are highly proportionate.
The site will try to serve as a new junction from the Radburn Way including the widening works
for the roads in order facilitate the new access to the roads that will serve the housing sites in the
Sixth Avenue. The new road and the car parking will assist in providng a traffic relief to the
RadBurn way and the Baldock Road.
As per the new car parking is concerned, the current provision includes a temporary car parking
on the former Quinn Way site. The new car park will be constructed on the owned land and will
be funded by Letchworth garden. Once the access road will be constructed along with the
construction of the car parking provision, it will be managed by the Foundation as a part of the
development of the overall scheme.

A new staff car parking will be served by a new northern road access towards the Radburn Way.
This will be helpful in reducing the traffic on the Baldock Road and particularly to the pressure
existing Hertfordshire FA on the current junction. Commitments are to be done as quickly as
possible and an attractive landscape setting has to be provided for supporting the quality open
space for recreation. This open space will in turn complement the Sports Village and Letchworth
Garden City. The plan suggested by the Foundation to the stakeholders allows an additional area
of about 150 unit housing site on its southern edge. The capital receipts that were generated from
the Letchworth Garden City were reused for investing in the delivery of the Sports Village.
It must be taken care of that the car parking is able to demonstrate full effort to the proposals and
is able to meet all the objectives and does not adversely affect the adjoining network. It will be
made sure that the establishment of the car parking is not detrimental to the amenity of the area
and neighbouring occupiers. Furthermore, the organization will try to establish a long-term car
parking in accordance with the with the sustainable development principles set out as per the
policy of the Foundation. The Foundation needs to relate well to the strategic road network and
will not exacerbate the congestion in the traffic. The whole implementation and establishment of
the car parking for the Sports Village will not have an adverse impact on the amenity and will be
in accordance with the policies of the Foundation. The residents, visitors and the staff will be
provided with the adequate car parking spaces.
Lastly, the Foundation and the stakeholders will make sure that the parking will be controlled
stringently in order to ensure that the sire provision is prioritised in the best way possible.
Partners
The British Tire Family believes in the power of uniting the various sports families and therefore
the entire nation. Therefore, the Foundation will partner with the most influential sports
organization for encouraging the sports and health and well-being of the individuals in order to

build a stronger society. Therefore, the Foundation will try to secure a sound partnership with the
organizations that have a good rapport for their sports and will be good for the business of the
Sports Village. Therefore, the Sports Village and the Foundation will partner with the
organizations which are highly passionate about sports and provide athletes with the high-quality
sports and those who actively sponsor the events they are participating in. The organizations
understanding the importance of the sports and sports communities will have a potential of
developing the future generations of the athletes and will engage all its customers in a
meaningful manner.
More than everything else, there is a need to develop strong and meaningful partnership for
delivering the identified deficiencies especially in the times of the financial stringency. Further
the partnership will help in improving the access to the existing provision. The Foundation will
have a priority of internal partnership within the Council which will also include the community
services, asset management, planning, collaboration with the Leisure Trusts, parks etc.
Furthermore, in an external manner, the key partners of the Foundation are the local commercial
providers like University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield Town Council, Hertfordshire County
Council, Gosling Sports Park and David Lloyd, Sport’s National Governing Bodies (NGB’s), the
Football Foundation, Sport England and all the nearby colleges and the schools. Additionally the
be neighbouring local authorities especially the ones that are close links with the Hertfordshire
and Letchworth Garden, the overlapping catchments present between all the local sports
facilities, good accessibility and mobility in the area.
When the development of the master plan meetings were occurring with Strategic Partners which
will be associated with the possible involvement in the development phase:

- Hertfordshire FA- is an integral partner will help in new access road so as enable a
fine parking lot solution for the selected site.
- Letchworth Garden City Rugby Club- will be highly beneficial for the development
of the Sports Village. Discussions have also included the various options for higher
quality grass pitch or use of ATP. The Foundation will continue to have a thorough
discussion with them during the next stages of progress in the further stage.
- North Herts Leisure Centre- is very keen to be highly involved from the perspective
of the user. The master plan will add their partnership involvement along with the
other users and Centres and will add them in the future phase.
All the options relate to the involvement of the partnership will be considered by the
organization along with the development of the master plan. Flexibility will be welcomed in the
future phrases when the question of adding new partner would be asked. The Foundation is in
talk with the various clubs, sport governing bodies, Sports, Cycling, Football Association,
Athletics and Rugby Union (RFU). The partnership will be valued and will be done on the
contract basis. The partnership will be done strategically and will the partners can be provided
additional funding. The applications can be made to grant the aiding organizations like Football
Foundation, Sports Lottery Fund, Local Strategic Partnership, local trusts, etc. for obtaining the
partnership funding for new provision. The sports facilities that are investing in sports and have
strategic approach towards sports must be involved in the strategic partnership.
Green belts and other concerns
Of all the elements that are concerned with the establishment of the planning system of the Green
Belt policy must be recognised readily and must be valued. The foundation needs to support the
decades-old policy related to the Green Belts where the purpose of these Green Belts have been
mentioned as a purpose of providing a reserve supply of public open spaces and of the