A COMMITTEE is to be in place to manage land on the Leyton Sports Ground by early 2010, the council has confirmed.

The land, in Crawley Road, near Leyton High Road, has been at the centre of an ongoing dispute over the authority's plans to build a school there.

Currently, no specific body exists to maintain the land and the decision to form the management committee was taken following the council's recent meeting with the Charity Commission.

And it has now been revealed that the committee will not have decision-making power over the site as this will lie with the council as corporate trustee of the sports ground charity.

The committee will be made up of representatives of local voluntary organisations, although it is not yet clear who they will be.

Under the council's plans, a school trust will be formed of Norlington School for Boys and George Mitchell All-Through School under a single governing body headed by the Institute of Education.

Parents, teachers, and campaigners have all been fiercely opposed to the plans as they believe pupils would not benefit and the new building would have a detrimental impact on the local area.

Teachers at Norlington have already staged walk-outs over the plans and further strikes are on the cards this autumn.

It has already been confirmed that using the land for educational purposes is not in keeping with the 'charitable objectives' attached to the land.

The council has therefore also stated it will 'develop recreational aspects' of the scheme.