Residents hail 50 years of playing fields

Kids Soccer at Clayton Playing Fields. Chaddy End Under 12's v Delamere Rangers Jordan Rutter Tackled

SUPPORTERS will mark 50 years of Oldham's Clayton Playing Fields with a commemoration at the site on Saturday (23).

Clayton Playing Fields, off Broadway, have provided five decades of enjoyment and sports facilities after they were officially opened by the Earl of Derby on April 23, 1966.

The opening followed the creation of a Deed of Trust between the owner of the land, Ina Clayton, and the then County Borough of Oldham and the Urban District Councils of Chadderton and Royton, which stated that the land should be used for recreational purposes to benefit local residents.

The deed of gift said: "The donees hereby declare that they will hold the said land upon trust to preserve and manage the same at all times hereafter as playing fields to be known as the Clayton playing fields for the benefit and enjoyment of the inhabitants of Oldham, Chadderton, and Royton."

Over the past half-century, the playing fields have been threatened with closure and relocation following several plans to redevelop the site.

In 1989, proposals to build a £50 million shopping complex, originally set to include a Tesco and Marks and Spencer store, were revealed.
Residents of Royton and Chadderton united against the plans, with demonstrations and petitions signed by more than 16,000 people objecting to the development.

After years of debate and controversy, the proposed sale of the playing fields went before the High Court, who declared that the courts had no power to authorise Oldham Council to sell the 23-acre site in April 1992.

The decision was appealed, however retailers pulled out of the development and plans were eventually scrapped for good in May 1993.

Celebrations took place at the site in 1996 when members of Clayton Playing Fields Action Group marked the site's 30th anniversary with the unveiling of a 6ft stone and plaque remembering the opening.

However they again faced an uncertain future in 1999 when plans for the Sports Park 2000 scheme, which included the relocation of Oldham Athletic's football ground to Clayton Playing Fields, was given planning permission.

The scheme involved creating a new joint rugby and football stadium, conference and motel facilities, and building a new B&Q store on the Westwood athletics site and moving the track to the new Radclyffe School.

However plans ground to a halt a year later, when Liberal Democrats took over the council, amid claims that the cost of the project had soared to almost £28 million and left a funding gap.

Only the B&Q store and the new athletics track were created from the proposals.

After several attempts by members of the Action Group, Clayton Playing Fields was eventually registered as a town green for recreational use in 2001, making future development on the site almost impossible.

In 2013 Oldham Council helped grassroots football on the site by erecting new changing rooms at Clayton Playing Fields, six years after the local authority was forced to demolish unsafe facilities.

Members of Clayton Playing Fields Action Group are inviting local residents to celebrate the site's 50th anniversary on Saturday at 11.30am. It is hoped football teams currently using the site will also mark the event.

Neil McGibbon, Vice Chairman Clayton Playing Fields Action Group, said: "The future of Clayton Playing Fields came under serious threat less than twenty-five years after it was created, so this is a milestone that many of us feared would never be reached.

"Thanks to Mr Clayton's remarkable foresight, the people of Oldham have been able to partake in all manner of recreational enjoyment for almost fifty years.

"There has never been a greater need for safe and easy access to the public open space that CPF provides, and its benefit to our community must never be undervalued."