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Citizenship at key stage 3 (Year 7-9)
Unit 08: Leisure and sport in the local community
Section 4: How are local planning decisions made?
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Objectives |
| Children should learn: |
- that providing leisure facilities can involve addressing conflicts of interest among the general public
- to discuss and debate issues and to justify and express opinions that are not necessarily their own
- to promote and justify a point of view, using supporting evidence (NSE)
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Activities |
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Outcomes |
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Children: |
- Present the class with the following scenario: a premiership football club wishes to expand into a new state-of-the-art stadium in a part of town within a residential area of mixed ethnic groupings. The alternative to expansion is to relocate the club, either to another town or to a greenfield site on the edge of this one.
- Ask pupils to list the arguments for and against the new stadium. For example, reasons for could include: crowd numbers have increased and the existing stadium is too small and old-fashioned; the ground needs to be upgraded to improve access and to conform with health and safety regulations; the new ground would be a great asset for the town and would attract many visitors; the town as a whole would benefit from the increased revenues paid by the club, and from the extra money spent by supporters. Reasons against could include: greater nuisance to local residents on match days; vandalism along routes to the stadium; increased violence between supporters and against members of the public; the enforced closure of local pubs on match days; a change in the area's character; the development is not sustainable; and too much pressure on the transport system.
- Divide the class into three or six groups. Group A are members of the local planning authority, who must recommend whether or not to allow the expansion. Group B are the management of the football club and the leaders of the supporters' club, and want the expansion to go ahead. Group C represent local residents and shopkeepers, who may not share the same opinions about the club's plans. Using their local authority's website, pupils could investigate how the authority considers planning applications, and how local people are consulted. Who has the power and authority to make decisions? At what point would national government become involved? Give each of the groups time to research and prepare their arguments. Then hold a mock 'public meeting' chaired by a local councillor to try to come to a broad agreement on the issue.
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- identify basic criteria by which planning applications for major leisure facilities need to be judged
- understand the need for local planning authorities to be involved in maintaining the local environment, and in balancing the conflicting interests of citizens
- engage and take part in formal debate or role-play on an issue of public interest
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Points to note |
- www.hse.gov.uk
(information about health and safety regulations from the Health and Safety
Executive).
- Link with English: En1, 1a-g, 2b-f, 3a-e.
- Link with ICT: 3b.
- Link with geography: 2e, 4b, 5a, 5b,
6g.iv.
- This type of scenario can be applied and used to encourage discussion on many issues. The whole class could role-play a public meeting, or discussion could take place in smaller groups.
- Link with NSE: year
7 S&L5, year
8 S&L3, year
9 S&L2.
- Link with thinking skills: creative thinking.
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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of
activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by
moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
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