Worry over Hackney 'San Siro' football pitch plan

A children's football pitch known as "the San Siro of east London" will close and reopen on a smaller scale.

The Keith Miller sports pitch in Hackney will be shut for 18 months and replaced with a smaller AstroTurf surface as part of plans to build social housing in the area.

Michael Johnstone, who runs a monthly children's football tournament at the site, said he was worried there could be more noise complaints when the pitch was overlooked by more homes.

A spokesperson for Hackney Council said they recognised the pitch was an "important community asset for local young people" and were working with a nearby school to provide a temporary space.

Children who use the pitch told BBC London it was a "big and fun" place for them to play sports.

"It helps people to make friends and also have fun with each other," one young boy said, while a young girl added that there were "a lot of kind people here".

Another boy said: "I kind of grew up here. This is how I started enjoying football."

"I get that more people need homes, but if it's something this special, I think you just can't take it away," a third boy added.

Photographer and film-maker Tara Darby, who has been documenting the pitch for a project, said it had been nicknamed "the San Siro of east London", after the famous stadium in Italy.

"It's got these incredible acoustics and it feels like this very private space," she said.

"For a lot of the young people that use it, it might as well be a stadium of 80,000 people, because here you get to dream."

Darby added: "There's a huge housing shortage in Hackney, but I think it's really important to protect spaces like this. They're used by so many young people and there's so few places for young people to go."

Johnstone runs Suffolk Sunday, a football tournament for children aged eight to 11 on the first Sunday of every month.

"This pitch is an absolute gem," he said. "It's for the community and it's a safe space for children to have fun and young people to use this pitch in a constructive way.

"What we are concerned about is that [the replacement] being a smaller size means that it won't be as good a pitch to use and it being overlooked by private houses might mean that there's more complaints."

The council said that while the free pitch would reduce by 185 sq m (1,990 sq ft), a recreational space and seating would be added to the site.

A Hackney Council spokesperson said the project was part of its New Homes Programme, which aimed to deliver more than 400 new homes, 75% of which would be council homes for social rent.

"We know the existing Keith Miller sports pitch is an important community asset for local young people, which is why we are re-providing an improved AstroTurf pitch as part of our plans," they said.

"While construction takes place we will work with a nearby school to provide a temporary pitch to continue running the vital activities for young people, such as the sessions run by Arsenal and Wickers.''

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