Recently published figures from the UK's Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Sport England show that 34,000 playing fields have been lost since 1992 – nearly 45 per cent of the stock of school and community pitches – says the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA).

Director of the NPFA, Alison Moore-Gwyn, said: “These figures are truly appalling. We have been saying for years that the situation is bad, but it is far worse than anyone imagined.”

The figures, released by the DCMS, included the first audit of playing fields since 1992, which showed that from 77,949 pitches across 25,940 sites, in 2005 only 44,000 pitches were left, spread across 21,000 sites – labelled a “shameful record” by Moore-Gwyn.

Although the figures showed a recent upturn – of the 1,413 planning applications received involving development on playing fields in 2003/4, only 4 per cent were deemed to be detrimental to sporting provision – concerns remain, particularly over the loss of smaller sites, and the ‘replacement’ of playing fields with artificial turf and indoor facilities.

Don Earley, deputy director of the NPFA, added that legislation needed to protect fields more rigorously: “The government should require all local authority-held fields to be protected in a similar way to school playing fields.” Details: www.npfa.co.uk