Neighbours and a friends group have called plans for an artificial football pitch on playing fields “controversial” and “silly”.

The Friends of Enfield Playing Fields are opposing the building of a new 3G pitch, which will go before Enfield Council’s planning committee on August 30.

Permission is being sought by the council itself to build the pitch in the north-east corner of the fields, near to Cambridge Gardens and next to the A10.

It would be enclosed by a high fence, and be floodlit and open seven days a week, all-year round.

Ruth Hastings-Iqball, secretary of the Friends of Enfield Playing Fields, said: “We are going to see less green space, and we cannot afford to lose any more.

“It is going to be built very near some houses, rather than on the other side near Edmonton County School.

“They are going to build a 10 foot just inside the park, and an opaque fence to mitigate the lighting. Lots of children and dog walkers use the gate near there to enter the park, it is going to be quite dark and dangerous for people to walk between, it will make people feel quite vulnerable.

“Ideally we do not want to see it built at all, but if it is built then it should be where it is planned.”

She said the experiences of those living near new pitches at Edmonton County School, who have also reported noise and light pollution, have convinced them these plans cannot work.

Geoff Hall, who has lived in Cambridge Gardens, directly opposite the planned site, for the past 30 years, said: “It is a 47-acre site, and the only place where it would be controversial to put it is there.

“If they put it there, we’ll suffer noise pollution, light pollution, even excrement pollution – people will not walk all the way across the fields to use the toilets, they will do it right there in the bushes.

“The plans just seem so silly.”

The Football Association has agreed to meet three-quarters of the estimated £600,000 cost, with the Council borrowing the rest, around £150,000.

Cllr Jim Steven, one of the three Conservative representatives of Enfield Town ward, said: “It might seem like a good idea, but we are not happy with where it is.

“The houses there are going to have lights flooding them. It’s an all-weather pitch, so it could be used seven days a week, all year.

“At the moment you can see all across the park, this is going to make things so different.”

Council spokesman Laura Berryman said they could not comment on the application before it appears before the committee.

She said:: “The planning committee will make a decision on this application at a future meeting and residents who have objected will be notified in advance.

“The planning committee is entirely independent of the council and its members will weigh up all the submissions and information about the proposed development before reaching any decision.”