Permission for Laser Tag Facility 'Crucial' for Rugby Club's Future

Council has served notice to close down compound

The current compound next to the rugby pitches

Chiswick Rugby’s (CRFC) expansion plans may be under threat after it was served notice to dismantle the laser tag facility operating next to its pitches in Dukes Meadows.

The club had understood that Hounslow Council, which owns the land, did not require permission for the compound, which was originally operated by Adrenalin Rush, to operate but the planning department now says that it has been erected without the necessary permission.

Retrospective planning permission has now been applied for (P/2022/2478) and CRFC believes that approval is crucial for its future as, should it be required to close, there could be disastrous consequences for the club’s finances.

CRFC, which is a volunteer-run charity, needs to expand its changing facilities following the demolition of the Thames Tradesmen Clubhouse across the road which had been used as a supplementary site for over fifty years. No details have been given by Hounslow Council regarding what changing facilities might be available once the boathouse is rebuilt.

The club currently has a single storey brick clubhouse, with consent for a single storey extension to the south and a two storey north extension which would mean there would be six changing rooms rather than just the two it has currently.

In 2018 it installed a Floodlit Artificial Grass rugby pitch at a cost of £850,000 with RFU funding which was partly based upon the expectation of the South Changing Rooms extension.

Following the withdrawal of Latymer Upper School from use of the site and the loss of the £350,000 that it was to provide, CRFC has been endeavouring to cover the resulting shortfall in funds needed to complete the project.

It has succeeded in keeping in place the original £350,000 grant and loan funding from the RFU, Sport England, and the London Marathon Charitable Trust, but even though the Club was able to contribute more of its own funds than originally anticipated, it still needs to raise about £80,000.

An additional loan was available for this shortfall, but it needed to be underpinned by revenues generated by the club and this was to be partly provided by the Laser Tag facility. It was decided to sub-let the site to ARUSH, which was already operating an Adrenalin Rush Laser Tag compound at the nearby Kings House Sports Ground site.

Laser tag is a recreational laser shooting sport where participants use infrared-emitting light guns to tag designated targets. Infrared-sensitive signalling devices are worn by individual players to register hits.

CRFC says that it put this proposal to the council who agreed in principle to the scheme and the legal documentation was nearly completely signed off .

At this point, ARUSH were informed that it must vacate the Kings House site. If it was not able to secure new premises immediately it said that it was likely to cease trading. Working on the assumption that all parties, including Hounslow Council, were in agreement with the Laser Tag deal and having been given assurances from a planning consultancy that the compound could be erected under Permitted Development, ARUSH started operations at the CRFC site in late 2021.

However, Hounslow Council have now served a notice requiring that all activities at the site cease and the compound be removed. It cost £50,000 to erect and removal of the facility would mean the end of the operation of the business.

One of the reasons the notice was served was because it was deemed to be a shared occupancy of the site. CRFC has sought to remedy this by taking over the operation of the facility which is now called “CRFC Laser tag” and all bookings are being handled by, and client income received by CRFC, with such income being set aside to complete the required project funding for the south extension.

Although adults can use the Laser Tag facilities it is aimed at school aged children generally ranging from 6 to 13.

In a statement issued with the application the club says, “It is to be remembered that CRFC is a voluntary non-profit making organisation focused on providing sport and leisure entertainment for young people, and that they operate on very limited income and funds. They did not intentionally breach their lease or local planning requirements and had thought that the Council was in agreement with the whole operation and that it could be installed under Permitted Development.”

October 23, 2022