Writing in today's Hackney Gazette, Richard Greenleaf, Chairman of Stoke Newington Cricket Club, and Johnnie Walker, Chairman of the Hackney and Leyton Sunday Football League, explain why they are supporting the Council's planning application for new sports facilities on Hackney Marshes.

Mr Greenleaf says: "With a quarter of Hackney children at risk of obesity when they leave primary school, we need to give people every opportunity and encouragement we can. We applaud Hackney Council for submitting a fantastic plan and strongly urge it to approve the plans to secure a healthy future for sport in the borough for generations to come."

Mr Walker says: "These famous and iconic Marshes are known worldwide as a wonderful facility that is widely recognised as the ancestral home of grass-roots football. May I remind all the objectors that facilities such as changing rooms and car parking were always sited on the North Marsh, the South Marsh, the East Marsh and the Arena Field. Football has existed on the Marshes longer than most of us, let's keep it that way."

To read their letters in full, click on the images below and download a high resolution version. 

See our online Q&A for more information on the pavilion application.