Local standards for provision

These are based on:

• existing national and local policies for sport and recreation and how they affect local provision ( for example PPG 17; local community or cultural strategies, local sport and recreation strategies);
• existing provision standards; and
• an analysis of the quantity, and quality of existing provision and any deficiencies.

Authorities will need to define the scope of their assessments, building on the typology given in the PPG 17 Companion Guide. This includes indoor sports facilities and community centres. The typology can be extended if local conditions make this appropriate.

Tools available from Sport England to assist this process include:

the Sports Facility Calculator; this can estimate the additional demand created for major built facilities using population breakdowns from the 2001 Census, or from locally derived figures. Assumed changes in demand resulting from sports development programmes can also be factored in. The facilities covered include:

• sports halls;
• swimming pools;and
• indoor bowls.

Towards a level Playing Field -a methodology to help assess the level of provision of playing fields within your area and write a playing pitch strategy.  This includes an electronic toolkit to help assess local need, including a Team Genneration calculator and a database of TGR's for comparison.

• the Playing Pitches Strategy Electronic Toolkit.  This allows for the demand for pitches to be estimated using team generation rates, although this would need to be complemented by information on pitch and ancillary facility quality.

Active Places
This is a comprehensive database of sports facilities in England including pools, halls, synthetic turf pitches, health and fitness centres, golf courses, ice rinks, indoor tennis centres, indoor bowls centres and playing fields.

Active Places Power-was launched in March 2005. and will be avaliable for the whole counrty by summer. Active Places Power provides a range of GIS based, online strategic planning tools to help assess the level of provision of sports facilities within your area.

To visit, find out more or register as an Active Places Power User, click here.