Green Dale in South Camberwell is in danger of being built on. It is Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) which should afford it a protection as high as Green Belt. DKH Wood is the nearest piece of MOL to Green Dale and any planning applications to build there are a direct threat to the protected status that DKH Wood has as it could set a precedent. We are therefore opposed to any plans to build a stadium on Green Dale.
The Story So Far (August 2019)
Having failed to get a decision about their planning application to build flats on the current stadium and a new stadium on Green Dale fields MOL, the current owners of the stadium, Meadow Residential, took Southwark Council to the planning inspectorate. The appeal hearing was set for December 2017. Southwark Council took Meadow to court to get a reassurance that if Meadow lost the appeal, then they would have the money to pay the appeal costs. Meadow decided they could not guarantee this and so pulled out of the planning appeal and no hearing was ever held. Southwark released a document explaining how they would have turned down their planning application had it ever gone to the committee. The lease on the whole of Green Dale Fields (incl the astro turf) reverted back to Southwark in January 2018 and they undertook some renovations to the astro turf and added accessible paths to the fields in 2018.
From December 2017 and throughout 2018 Meadow undertook a series of aggressive actions against DHFC. In a bizarre twist it turned out that shortly after withdrawing from the appeal process, Meadow had trademarked the club name and then issued a warning against the 100+ year old club using it. They then sent the club a bill for “back rent” and insisted that if it wasn’t paid within 21 days they would be evicted from the ground. The eviction came in March 2018 and the club were forced to ground-share with Tooting & Mitcham. This didn’t stop them from going up a league and they now play in the National League South. In October 2018, the news came that Meadow were going to let the club back in to Champion Hill and their first home game came on Boxing Day 2018. Southwark had struck a deal with Meadow and DHFC, allowing DHFC to have a lease again on the astro turf MOL plus a bit of the Green Dale fields MOL too. A few days before the homecoming match, South London Press published an article saying that Meadow would be putting in a new planning application in early 2019.
That planning application was validated in July 2019 and is accepting comments up until 15th August (though Southwark say they will accept comments later ). Not much has changed since the 2016 planning application ie. flats on the current stadium, new stadium on Green Dale MOL with the clubhouse on an area now taken up by the current stadium (ie. Meadow Residential land). Slight change to orientation of the pitch and it has been sunk slightly. BIG difference is that they now not only want the astro turf MOL but they also want a chunk of Green Dale fields and plan to destroy a huge chunk of the sloping bank where the picnic table is now. Mysteriously it turns out that the lease line drawn up by Southwark in December 2018 matches the “red line” of the proposed stadium development. Coincidence?
Using This Website
We want the football fans, the local residents, the NIMBYs and the eco-warriors to have access to as much information as possible about the plans and their history so that everyone has a chance to make informed decisions.