Plan for netting along sports ground boundary in Doncaster thrown out

An application was put forward by Barnby Dun and Kirk Sandall Parish councils to erect netting at the recreation ground off Doncaster Road to stop balls hurtling into gardens backing onto the fields.

The application received a number of objections from residents living at nearby Trent Gardens. The netting would be overlooked by a number of properties.

Councillors raised the potential for vandalism, children climbing it and took issue with the nets being raised throughout the Sunday League football season which usually lasts from September to as late as May.

But they added that a solution should be sought and were not against the application coming before them again.

Noel Tupling, a resident of Trent Gardens who spoke against the application, said residents had requested if the netting was to be put in place, then it should be taken down after every game.

But council planner Dave Smith said he had enquired about this but said the club ‘do not have the ‘man power’ to do this on a regular basis.

He added that he spoken to the club about the arrangement of pitches and they told him this was the best to fit all the teams that want to play.

Mr Tupling said: “We have no problem with kids playing sport on the field, we want to see as much sport as possible.

“But we feel the pitch could be reconfigured better including moving the pitch which in turn, could save the money from the nets that are planned.

“From where we are, it’s actually nearer eight metres when you take into account the elevation from where it is planned.”

Rossington councillor Mick Cooper who also voted against the application, said: “I have experience of this managing sports fields and balls going into gardens does happen but we never had to resort to anything like the sort of fences that we’re talking about – it looks like something from a prison compound.”