“There is no limit to the good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit”
George S Marshall, American chief of staff during World War Two

The Value of Sport
The role and value of sport to meet wider social objectives has never been as important as at the present time.

Sport can, and does, make a significant impact upon the quality of life and the sense of community. The direct gains to sport through increased levels of participation and performance of our clubs and representative teams can also indirectly influence wider social agendas such as crime, health, regeneration and renewal, social exclusion and inequality.

Traditional partners such as national governing bodies of sport, clubs and local authorities have been involved in the development of sport, but there is a growing acceptance that we need to develop an approach to engaging additional key agencies whose primary service may not be sport but these wider issues.

The direct aims of increasing participation in sport and active recreation and making a sustainable impact upon wider social agendas cannot be done in isolation. This plan presents a timely reminder that widening the range of opportunities can best be achieved through partnership.

There are many examples across the region where sporting partners are already working strategically and locally to engage non-sporting partners who have a significant role to play addressing both direct sporting objectives and a wider social agenda.

These include government agencies, education, the voluntary sector, health, sporting agencies, the private sector and the media. The following snapshot gives an overview of key partners and the sectors they represent.

Government Office for the East of England – GO-East
Caroline Bowdler, regional director, Government Office for the East of England (GO-East) said: “The Government Office for the East of England recognises the impact of sport on the lives of individuals and communities in this region. Sport is good for everyone’s health. It helps young people develop physical skills and life skills, and it brings communities together.

Sport has a major role to play in helping the East of England achieve its ambitions for growth and regeneration. GO-East welcomes the East of England Plan for Sport as a key strategy for the region.

”GO-East is based in Cambridge and works to promote and implement government policy in the East of England, focusing on economic and social issues. It has strategic advisory and funding responsibilities. Sport England and key partners are working ever more closely with GO-East in developing a co-ordinated approach to using sport as a tool to address issues such as social exclusion, regeneration and rural issues through investment into targeted areas, using initiatives such as New Deal For Communities and Neighbourhood Pathfinders.

GO-East also plays an important role in promoting the Government’s planning policy agenda, and in the East of England a key objective is to deliver the major new growth areas proposed in the Sustainable Communities Plan (2003) for the Thames Gateway, M11 Corridor and Milton Keynes - South Midlands (which includes the Bedford and Luton/Dunstable areas).

Sport England is one of several regional agencies that will work with GO-East to ensure that the new communities are developed with full supporting ‘social infrastructure’, including adequate formal and informal sport and recreation opportunities.

In a statutory role, Sport England liaises closely with GO-East with regard to development proposals affecting playing fields, in particular where a Sport England objection results in the proposal being referred to the Government Office under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (Playing Fields) (England) Direction 1998.

Examples of joint working:
Two regional conferences aimed at showcasing the Value of Sport in renewal and regeneration. Worked to support the implementation of the Fenland Neighbourhood Pathfinder Regeneration Project in rural Fenland, working in partnership with Sport England East and Fenland District Council to maximise local gains for sport through this investment programme.
www.go-east.gov.uk

East Of England Development Agency – EEDA
David Marlow, Chief Executive, East of England Development Agency (EEDA), said: "We welcome a strategy for the development of sport in the region as it plays an important part in the economic progress of the East of England.”

"Ensuring that people have access to a range of good sporting facilities, in terms of both participation and as a leisure option, is also important for the sustainable development of our communities."

EEDA is primarily responsible for the development of the regional economy. EEDA has significant investment responsibilities, working to support the economic and social development of the east region. EEDA works strategically to fund the development of sub-regional partnerships through bodies such as Local Strategic Partnerships, Local Economic Partnerships and the regional Market Town infrastructure. EEDA has recently launched two significant investment programmes aimed at addressing social and economic capacity at a regional and sub- regional level, namely Rural Renaissance and Investing In Communities. These significant investments present an opportunity for sport to work in partnership at a regional and sub-regional level to service the aims of these programmes. EEDA also supports the Regional Assembly in the development of the Sustainable Development Framework for the region.

Examples of joint working:
Working together with sport and local partners to fund several local infrastructure projects created to drive up participation amongst priority groups. These include a 5-year investment programme in Fenland focusing on sport and physical activity for women and girls and rural communities. Funding for the project allows the employment of an officer and a development budget. This work concentrates on building local capacity through increased skills and knowledge, structures and clubs in areas where transport and access is limited.

Supporting regional research into Black and Minority Ethnic sport in partnership with Sport England and MENTER (The East of England Black and Minority Ethnic Network).
www.eeda.org.uk
www.menter.org.uk

The East of England Regional Assembly - EERA
Brian Stewart, chieexecutive, East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) said "the East of England Regional Assembly warmly welcomes the East of England Plan for Sport. The Assembly recognises the enormous benefits that sporting activity can make to both physical and mental health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. It looks forward to working with Sport England, local authorities and other partners to develop sport in the East of England region."

EERA’s purpose is to promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of the region, in accordance with the needs of sustainable development, in the interests of all those who live and work in the region through a partnership of elected representatives and representatives of other regional interests.

Examples of joint working:
Sport has worked in alliance with EERA in the production of the Regional Social Strategy; in particular, looking at the role sport can play upon wider social agendas such as health, community regeneration, crime diversion and education in areas of great need. This document will reflect the contribution sport makes through demonstrating models of good practice from existing infrastructure projects, together with suggesting ways in which strategic alliances can work long-term to address social exclusion, using sport as a tool for change.
www.eera.gov.uk

The East of England Public Health Group - EEPHG
Gina Radford, Regional Director of Public Health, East of England Public Health Group, said; “ In the Chief Medical Officer’s new report, At Least Five a Week, he has stressed that adults must undertake moderate exercise for 30 minutes at least five times a week and children needed to exercise for an hour every day. While this can be part of everyone’s daily routine we look forward to working with Sport England to promote more opportunities for people to become active”.

EEPHG is actively working to meet the public health agenda in the East of England and its mission statement is: Championing Health for the East of England. EEPHG will collaborate with GO-East colleagues and regional agencies to promote an Investment For Health approach and supports an integrated approach to economic, social, environmental and health development within the region. It ensures public health issues are addressed in the regional and national implementation of The Sustainable Communities Plan and contributes to the delivery of other Department’s Public Service Agreements targets. EEPHG will work with the East of England Regional Assembly to develop a Regional Health Strategy.

Examples of joint working
Great Yarmouth Primary Care Trust (PCT) is one of nine pilots in a national programme called LEAP (Local Exercise Action Pilots) and is focusing on a community ‘way – marked’ walking programme, a weight management programme of physical activity and diet control and specialist instructors involving people within their own communities. The project is based on a network of strong local partnership led by the PCT and went ‘live’ in January 2004.

Work is underway between Sport England and the East of England Public Health Group to set up a Physical Activity Forum. This group will be made up of representatives from departments in the Government Office, Regional Development Agencies, leisure services and voluntary sectors. It will develop and deliver an evidence based physical activity plan for the region and monitor its progress.
www.go-east.gov.uk/partnerships/public_health_group

The Countryside Agency
The Countryside Agency is the statutory champion and watchdog working to make the quality of life better for people in the countryside.

The Countryside Agency’s is regional office in Cambridge works to improve access to and from the countryside through investment into local infrastructure and addressing issues such as limited local services in rural areas (poor transport, poor facilities, limited knowledge and skills).

The Countryside Agency focuses its efforts on addressing the health and social well-being of rural communities and is a key partner for sport and active recreation in addressing rural issues. The Countryside Agency invests in sub-regional bodies such as County ACREs (Action with Communities in Rural England) or Rural Community Councils to address its aims and objectives and is also a key partner in developing Market Town Partnerships.

Examples of joint working
Research commissioned into rural sport and active recreation in the East of England through officer support, advice, evidence and funding.

Developing a pilot sport and physical activity programme for young people in rural Norfolk and Suffolk. The Countryside Agency’s is investing its resources into this area to increase participation and to build local capacity.
www.countryside.gov.uk

Department For Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
DEFRA East is based in Cambridge and works to achieve sustainable and thriving rural economies, and to protect and enhance the natural and cultural heritage characterised by generally low lying farmland and coastal features, in order to strengthen the distinctive character and economy of the East of England.

Sport England East and partners have worked with DEFRA as part of the Rural Development Programme (RDP), which has funding until 2006 to address access to sport in rural areas. The programme has a key focus for building thriving social environments and improving the quality of life.

Examples of joint working
Working closely with Sport England East and partners to develop a farm ‘sports’ diversification programme in North Cambridgeshire. Farm diversification involves changing the use of land and disused buildings to benefit enterprise and community life.
www.defra.gov.uk

Living East
Living East is the Regional Cultural Consortium in the East of England and is charged with using the power and potential of culture in its widest sense to improve all aspects of people’s lives. Its vision is “to put culture at the heart of the region’s life”.

Sport England is a key member of Living East and works in partnership on a number of key projects. Examples would be the development of a Regional Cultural Skills Development Plan or the development of standardised approaches to data collection for the sporting and cultural sectors.

Examples of joint working:
Sport England has worked closely throughout 2002-03 with Living East in the production of draft Regional Planning Guidance for the region (RPG14), which will be published in Autumn 2004. This holistic approach to producing guidance covering all strands of the cultural sector ensures that sport and physical activity is seen as a key component in raising the quality of life for the region’s residents and visitors, in line with the Regional Cultural Strategy produced by Living East in 2001.
www.livingeast.org.uk

Regional Lottery Forum
The Regional Lottery Forum brings together the regional Lottery distributors.

Joint work through this group involves a joined up approach to the development of work in priority areas, work on joint promotional strategies and to act as a joined-up lobby for the work of the Lottery in the region.