More school playing-field sell-offs were approved by the government in August than in any other month this decade - and the numbers are steadily climbing, latest figures reveal.

The government gave the go-ahead for 11 sales in August - the most recent month for which figures are available. This is equal to the yearly total for 2010 and 2011, a TES analysis of Department for Education data shows.

There have already been 17 approvals in 2016, and the annual total could exceed 25 if the rest of the year reflects the numbers seen so far.

Heads have warned that funding pressures within local councils could be fuelling the surge in sell-offs.

Since figures were first recorded in 2010, the government has approved 138 sales.

Tim Gill, former director of the Children’s Play Council and a leading commentator on childhood, said: “It’s completely scandalous that at a time when you have rising childhood obesity, we’re disposing of the very assets that are one of the best ways of helping with children’s physical and emotional health.

“There’s really clear, robust evidence that if you want to boost children’s physical activity levels, you can’t do any better than looking at school playing fields.”

Mr Gill added that access to outdoor space plays an important role in children’s mental health. “The benefits of being outdoors, under the sky and somewhere green are well researched,” he said.

DfE guidance states that the first priority for reinvesting the proceeds from playing-field sales should be sports facilities.

In 2012, former education secretary Michael Gove relaxed government regulations setting out the minimum outdoor space schools had to provide pupils for team games.

A DfE spokeswoman said: “These school playing-field figures represent a tiny proportion of the total playing-field land across the country and consent has only been granted where schools have demonstrated there is no impact on their sports curriculum.

“We are investing £160 million a year to PE and school sport, and this will be doubled next year to £320 million through the primary PE and sport premium.”

This is an edited version of an article in the 21 October edition of TES. Subscribers can read the full article here. To subscribe, click here. This week’s TES magazine is available at all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here.

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