500 signatures reached
To: Newark and Sherwood District Council
Keep the Elm Avenue Stadium as a Sports Ground for local people
The Stadium land on Elm Avenue has benefited the people of Newark for generations. Local people have a strong association with the land as part of Becher Tidd Pratt’s legacy and a part of the history of the Town. In addition to this cultural heritage, the land has massive value as a rare piece of urban green space. There is under provision of amenity open space in Newark and so land should not be built on. The Stadium should continue to provide opportunities for recreation and access to open green space for the people of Newark in perpetuity.
Why is this important?
The Stadium at Elm Avenue should not be destroyed by property development as it is an sports area of rich historic significance for the people of Newark. In the past, the land has been passed over to local government ownership with a view to it remaining as a sports area for local people. There is little free-access or low-cost sports space in this town and this precious yet currently underused space is in demand. There are football teams and other local people who are keen to use this space but it has been governed in such a way that they could not afford to use it and so it has little use at present. This is a terrible shame as we need to encourage more grass-roots sport.
If the Stadium space is built on, the local people will lose yet another area of green. As Newark is an area low social mobility and multiple studies have shown links between access to green-space and economic well-being, the local government should be doing everything in its power to protect any remaining green-space. In addition green areas are needed now more than ever to mitigate against climate change. Instead of removing urban green space, we need to protect and improve it, for example by adding further trees to the entrance to the site and thereby supplementing the few that exist already. Help us to first protect and then maintain this urban green area for current and future generations of Newark to enjoy.
