Sport England Update

 

 

Be part of the 2012 legacy by improving and protecting your local playing fields

 

Hundreds of sports playing fields across the country will be protected and improved thanks to a £10 million National Lottery fund launched today (11 May) by Sport England and the Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson MP.

Sport England has launched the £10 million Protecting Playing Fields programme as part of the Places People Play mass participation legacy.  

Through Protecting Playing Fields, communities will be able to enhance local playing fields, or create new sports pitches. As part of the Places People Play mass participation legacy programme, the fund will help bring to life the inspiration and magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games for communities all over the country.

 

Sport England’s Chair, Richard Lewis, said: “Playing fields are the places where many young people have their first experience of sport, where sporting dreams come true and where communities come together.

 

“Protecting Playing Fields is about safeguarding and enhancing those spaces – and creating new, high-quality playing pitches where the next generation can enjoy sport. This is a great chance to bring the sporting legacy to life in your community.”

 

Hugh Robertson said: “As part of hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games we want to offer people better facilities and more opportunities to play sport. This £10 million lottery investment will help achieve that. Not only will it further protect playing fields from developers but also create new ones and improve pitches up and down the country.”

 

Sport England will run five £2 million Protecting Playing Fields funding rounds over the next three years. We will invest between £20,000 and £50,000 in hundreds of projects that will create, improve and protect playing fields by: 

• Bringing disused playing fields back into use
• Improving the condition of pitches (e.g. levelling, drainage, reseeding)
• Buying new playing field land (not less than 0.2 hectares)
• Buying existing playing field land where there is a known threat, such as the expiry of a lease or a development proposal.

Every playing field supported by this fund will also be protected from developers for at least 25 years, creating an enduring benefit for sport.

 

Sport England has also entered into a partnership with Fields in Trust (FIT) to support the protection of playing fields as part of the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge. Successful applicants to Protecting Playing Fields who accept a Deed of Dedication of their playing field in “perpetuity” will have their project details passed to FIT. This will give them the opportunity to become a Queen Elizabeth II Field as part of the programme to mark the Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics.

 

Alison Moore-Gwyn, Chief Executive of Fields in Trust said: “Playing fields are the building blocks of sport and play and our goal through the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge is to ensure that the future of these spaces is permanently protected. Our partnership with Sport England is a great opportunity to create a legacy from 2012 that brings real benefit to our playing fields and communities.”

 

Protecting Playing Fields builds on the work Sport England already does to safeguard playing fields as a statutory consultee on all planning applications affecting a sports playing field. Playing fields are one of the most important resources for sport in England. There are over 59,200 playing pitches at 19,236 sites in England and over half of the grass pitches (33,200) are marked out for football.

 

To help potential applicants benefit from this National Lottery funding, we are holding a series of workshops over the next fortnight.

 

This new fund will see hundreds of sports playing fields across the country protected and improved, with the workshops explaining how applicants can bid to protect, improve or create a new playing field in their local area. 

 

Find out more?  

 

---

 

Making asset transfer simple for community sports clubs

 

Sport England has launched the Community Sport Asset Transfer Toolit to help hundreds of community sports clubs across England take ownership of land or buildings from government organisations.

With the development of this bespoke, interactive web based tool Sport England aims to provide clubs with a step-by-step guide through each stage of the sometimes complex asset transfer process.

 

Find out more? 

 

---

 

Early legacy delivered as 2012 venue opens to the public

 

The Lee Valley White Water Centre has opened its doors to the public, becoming the only brand new London 2012 venue the community can use and enjoy ahead of the Games. 

 

The centre, in which Sport England has invested £900,000 of National Lottery funding, will host London 2012’s canoe slalom competition and in opening to community paddlers, has delivered an early legacy of world-class facilities.

Find out more? 

 

---

 

Sport England's Web Tool

 

Sport England's well-received web tool, which brings together a range of data relevant to local sports policy, including demographic, health, sports participation (formerly known as NI8), market segmentation, facilities, and nearest neighbour comparator data has been updated.

 

It now features data from Active People Survey 4 as well as new data on local economic performance (the number of sport-related businesses and jobs in each local authority area, sports business birth rates and the contribution of local sport to regional and national employment).

These additions are intended to help demonstrate sport's contribution to local economic growth and in positioning with the emerging Local Enterprise Partnerships. Other new features in the latest version include refreshed facilities data including squash court provision and a revamp of the profile’s presentation in response to valuable feedback from external users.

More info

 

---

 

To find out more about Sport England's strategy click here

 

If you would like copies of 'the latest from the pitch' sent to your email address please click here