RESIDENTS look set to have a say in the running of sports ground, which the council had hoped to build a school on.

Leading councillors are next week due to consider a proposal which will see four council nominees, two local residents and two representatives of clubs that use the site form a management committee.

Under the changes councillors will be asked to approve the authority’s nominees, while Grove Green and Leyton ward forums will each put one person forward for the role.

The authority’s Youth Support Service will decide how to recruit the user group representatives.

The council holds the ground, off High Road, under a charitable trust which requires it to preserve the sports ground “to be maintianed for the enjoyment and recreation of the youth of east London And west Essex.”

A council plan to merge two schools to create a new ‘super school” on part of the land prompted a community campaign to save the green space, which is used by a schools and a number of clubs, including Leyton County Cricket Club.

The finally collapsed when governors of George Mitchell School in Leyton voted against a merger.

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