Chapel Parish Council withdraws plans for playground demolition - but will be resubmitting

In early February Chapel-en-le-Frith Parish Council submitted an application to High Peak Borough Council for the demolition of the Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA).

It said: “Chapel-en-le-Frith Parish Council gives notice that it has applied to High Peak Borough Council for Planning consent to demolish this MUGA.

“The parish council is currently considering whether to undertake such demolition, and no final decision has been reached.

“The planning consent, if granted, will enable demolition to be carried out if the Parish Council does decide on that course of action.

“It will be the parish council's aim to build another MUGA on a different site in due course.”

Since then hundreds of people objected to the plans on the borough council’s planning portal and more than 50 people attended a meeting to discuss the matter.

Peter Leopard clerk to the parish council said: “No-one on the parish council thinks it is a good idea to abolish the MUGA; we simply wished to be suitably prepared for a range of outcomes from the court case.”

The court case relates to a noise dispute between two neighbours and the council itself over the MUGA.

However, on High Peak Borough Council’s planning portal it now says the application has been withdrawn.

Peter explained: “The application has been withdrawn on a technicality.

“There is a distinction between demolition and an engineering operation and we have used the wrong phrase.

“So we have withdrawn the application but we will be resubmitting another.”