young players in numbered bibs

London's
playing fields
in numbers

Why we exist

  • There are around 1,500 playing fields in London, owned by local authorities, schools, charities and commercial companies.
  • London is home to 16% of the UK population but only has 8% of its playing fields.
  • London’s public green space has a gross asset value of more than £91 billion, providing services valued at £5 billion a year.
  • London saves £950 million per year in health costs due to the impact of living and working close to public green space.
  • In the UK, 17% of deaths are caused by inactivity. It is estimated that physical inactivity costs the economy £7.4 billion in premature deaths, healthcare and sickness absence.
  • For each £1 spent by local authorities and their partners on public green space, Londoners enjoy at least £27 in value in terms of economic health benefits
  • London has lost 20% of its grass football pitches since 1990.
  • 41% of London’s natural turf cricket pitches have been lost since 1990.
cricket game in London playing field

Our impact

During 2024*:

  • 734 cricket matches were played on our pitches, around 37 games a week.
  • 3,632 football matches were played on our grounds, 130 matches a week.
  • 441 local people are members of our Green Hearts project which gets people walking, jogging or running around our fields to keep active and improve well-being.
  • 32 cricket clubs played on our grounds.
  • 775 football teams regularly use our facilities.
  • More than 200,000 Londoners used our pitches, which are available to hire.
  • 179 adults and 51 young people attended Coping Through Football, a grassroots project which improves the well-being of adults and young people experiencing mental health problems.
  • 700 youth football teams played 1,700 small sided matches in the SELKent league at London Marathon Playing Field Greenwich each Sunday during the football season.

*1st October 2023-30th September 2024.

 

For every £1 we invest in producing good quality pitches, we only recoup 46p in hiring income.

PLEASE DONATE TODAY to make sure our work can keep having an incredible impact on people’s lives.

Support

Coping Through Football

Support our groundbreaking social inclusion project to help people with mental health problems get their lives back on track.

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Community

Green Hearts

Find out about our Green Hearts initiative and our other social inclusion projects

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