A CAMPAIGN has been launched to find Essex’s “lost” playing fields to prevent them being wrongfully built over.

As many as 32 of the 900 playing fields set up via grants from the Carnegie UK Trust between are believed to be in Essex and are protected from development under the original terms of the grants.

However there is one major stumbling block – no-one at the Trust knows exactly where they are.

As such, it is launching the #FieldFinders initiative to harness residents’ local knowledge in tracking down the playing fields, which were set up between 1927 and 1935, but were never centrally recorded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie’s trust.

Prospective field finders will have until August 31 to report back to the Trust’s website and are also being encouraged to share images of the sites through social media with the #FieldFinders hashtag before a specialist team from Fields in Trust cross-reference it with any surviving documentation and begin the process of improving legal protection for the site.

Every successful confirmed location will enter the field finder into a prize draw with the chance to win one of two prizes of £5,000 to make improvements to their local community facilities.

Douglas White, Head of Advocacy at Carnegie UK Trust, said: “When these grants were made it was a significant sum of money for outdoor recreational spaces across the UK.

“A requirement of the grant was that the playing fields should remain public areas for the benefit of the community in perpetuity.

“We want to find as many of these fields as possible and ensure that they remain legally protected for the local community.”

Areas of south Essex which are believed to contain Carnegie UK Trust playing fields include Benfleet, Brentwood, Chelmsford, Corringham, Grays, Langdon Hills, Little Thurrock, Purfleet, Rayleigh, Rochford, Shoebury, South Benfleet and Tilbury.

For more information, visit the Fields in Trust website at www.fieldsintrust.org/Carnegie.aspx