Calls to scrap plans for crumb rubber football pitch at Whitefoot Lane, Downham

Lewisham council raised a planning application for another crumb rubber infill synthetic football pitch for the borough, on 1st December.

But Downham Community Land Trust (CLT) has condemned the plans as "ecological vandalism", while Downham GP Dr Helen Tattersfield described the risk of serious harms to children's health from 3G football pitches.

Crumb rubber infill football pitches are being phased out in the EU and Northern Ireland due to their health risks to players and workers, pollution of water supplies and harms to the wider environment.

The Whitefoot Lane playing fields are surrounded by ancient woodland and there have been longstanding calls to open the space for public access.

DEFRA reported in May 2025 that rubber crumb football pitches were the largest source of intentionally added microplastics found across the UK, and add to the growing plastic burden on the environment at every stage of their lifecycle, including disposal.

Ban across EU and Northern Ireland

The EU has acted on the scientific research and in September 2023 announced a ban on new crumb rubber infill sports pitches. It will come into effect across the EU and in Northern Ireland in 2031, after an eight year transition period.

The European football pitch industry is responding and the costs of alternative fillers are beginning to come down. Safer alternative fillers include granulated cork, coconut fibre, olive stone husks, bark and corn kernels.

Professor Andrew Watterson at Stirling University published his review of the scientific research on crumb rubber pitches in March 2024, leading to some moves across Scotland to act on the issue.

Glasgow City Green councillor Christy Mearns raised the issue at a full council meeting and charity Glasgow Life has now started replacing the filling in its five pitches with a safer alternative.

Health equity and environmental racism

Downham ward in south Lewisham is an area of high deprivation and health inequality.

Downham CLT fed into the Local Plan during 2024, finding that it failed to take on board issues of health equity and environmental racism.

Government inspectors agreed, noting "inequality in relation to connectivity and access to green space and the consequences for human health".

One of their recommendations was to implement health impact assessments to ensure "green infrastructure can deliver benefits for society". Modifications were then made to the Local Plan.

Tim Oshodi, who leads Downham CLT, has objected to the council's planning application for the 3G football pitch.

"The communities of the south of the borough are impacted by environmental racism", he says.

Oshodi points to the council's failure to carry out a health equity impact assessment of its plans and to consider the impacts of the rubber crumb infill, the dangers to local biodiversity, the risks of microplastics and forever chemicals, light and noise pollution and the loss of public access to the green space.

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'Privatisation of green space' assigned for all Downham schools

Lewisham council reported in October 25 on its plans to transfer the lease for Whitefoot Lane playing fields to Bonus Pastor Catholic College.

They argued that they could not bring the playing fields back into use by local authority schools (and therefore continue to claim government funding for the fields) "due to all schools not wanting to use the playing fields".

Salamander tried to clarify the meaning of this ambiguous statement, and raised a freedom of information request.

The council did not respond to the question of whether Lewisham schools had been asked whether they would want to use the playing fields as their playing fields, if this option was open to them.

Instead they responded that: "Schools are aware of the playing fields and its availability .. Bonus Pastor School have been using the site .. every day for many years."

So Lewisham schools have not confirmed that they would not want to use the playing fields, given the option.

Instead, the council has confirmed that they are aware that at present, the playing fields have no availability, except on an ad hoc, occasional basis.

The council's statement - used to justify its transfer of the lease away from its maintained (state-funded) schools - appears to be misleading.

Tim Oshodi argues that transfer of the lease to St Benedict Academy trust "amounts to privatisation of the public green space which was assigned for the benefit of all the schools of Downham".

He points out that the trust will have an economic incentive to charge higher fees to recover the ongoing costs of maintaining the pitch and for rebuilding the currently "dilapidated" changing rooms, and sees a future where Lewisham state schools are priced out of their current occasional use of the playing fields.

Once the lease is transferred, the council will "lack the capacity" to enforce its commitment to access to state schools, he says.

Online comments to the planning application can be made until 26 January.

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