Sport England today announced that it has reached the £40 million mark in funding around 550 community sports club projects throughout England.
Projects ranging from the restoration of playing fields, new pitch lighting, and the upgrading of tennis courts, to the modernisation of cycling tracks and new synthetic pitches, have been supported through the Community Club Development Programme, managed by Sport England and funded by the Government Department for Culture Media & Sport. Awards vary in size from around £5,000 to £925,000, with over half of the £40 million investment going into projects directly located in or impacting on the 20 percent most deprived parts of the country.
This investment represents the successful completion of the second wave of funding from the Community Club Development Programme, a five-year, £100 million Exchequer fund designed to give 19 National Governing Bodies the opportunity to bid directly for funds for community capital projects throughout England. The success of the first wave of the Programme, led to an extra £40 million being invested for 2006-08. The Programme has also secured an additional £30 million of inward investment into sport through partnering with a number of organisations including the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and European Regeneration as well as local authorities.
Richard Caborn, Sports Minister said: “The Community Club Development Programme has been a big success for sport across this country. Good sporting facilities are not only crucial to supporting grassroots sport in schools and communities, they also provide our young people the opportunity to develop into champions, for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 and beyond. “
Roger Draper, Chief Executive of Sport England said: “This programme is an innovative way of helping to ensure that community clubs – the heart of grassroots sports development in the East of England – receive the capital investment they need. This is central to achieving our vision of England becoming the most active and successful sporting nation in the world.
“Our objective in managing this programme is to respond to the priorities of each Governing Body. As part of the modernisation of sport in England, Sport England has committed these funds on the basis of the bids of the nation’s most popular sports themselves. This programme has for the first time given the sports the opportunity to identify capital projects in need of investment and to work in partnership with Sport England to make them a success.”
The 16 National Governing Bodies that have benefited so far include: badminton, basketball, canoeing, cricket, cycling, football, gymnastics, hockey, judo, netball, rowing, rugby league, rugby union, table tennis, tennis and swimming. Of these, cricket, football, rugby union and tennis have an allocation each of £14.15m million over five years. The remaining 12 sports have a total allocation of £39 million over five years. From April 2006 Boxing, Squash and Golf will also be eligible to apply for funding.
Funding overview (awards to date) by Governing Body as at 19/9/05
National Governing Body Funding Number of Awards
Amateur Rowing Association £1,625,151 33
Amateur Swimming Association £232,377 3
Badminton England £1,249,260 14
British Canoe Union £1,124,153 93
British Cycling Federation £1,403,155 7
British Gymnastics Association £750,076 3
British Judo Association £1,556,169 5
England Basketball £313,251 3
England & Wales Cricket Board £5,309,937 187
England Hockey £611,000 6
England Netball £742,837 6
English Table Tennis Association £546,262 3
Football Association £8,942,214 24
Lawn Tennis Association £6,958,152 43
Rugby Football League £428,779 7
Rugby Football Union £8,595,352 127
Joint Sports £74,520 N/A
Funding overview by region at 19/9/05
Region Funding No. of Awards
East £5,919,134 50
East Midlands £3,268,320 48
London £2,856,323 37
National Projects £2,444,776 103
North East £2,570,214 24
North West £7,296,877 83
South East £3,999,289 57
South West £3,994,627 63
West Midlands £4,556,714 44
Yorkshire £3,556,371 55
For more information contact Sarah Shore at Sport England on +44 (0) 207 273 1590 or +44 (0)7748 845 692
Notes to Editors
Sport England invests Lottery and Exchequer funds into sport. Our aim is to encourage people of all ages to start, stay and succeed in sport at every level and make England the most active and successful sporting nation.
Sport England has nine Regional Sports Boards (RSBs), each made up of experts from areas such as business, local government, sport, health and education. The RSBs provide the strategic lead for sport in their regions and distribute investment for grassroots sport.
Sport England has invested more than £2bn of Lottery funds into sport across England and more than £300 million from the Exchequer.