Sport England is changing the way it distributes around £45m a year of National Lottery funding after a public consultation showed widespread support for our proposals.
Over 500 individuals and organisations took part in the consultation and more than 90% of them responded positively to our plans.
The responses will help Sport England to develop the detail of the four new funding streams outlined in the consultation:
- Regular themed funding rounds that meet specific needs of community sport
- A programme of sustainable investment in facilities
- A small grants scheme
- An innovation fund to identify and pilot best practice in community sport.
These programmes will ensure funding is awarded in a fair and flexible way to projects that will grow and sustain participation in sport.
Sport England will be publishing full details of the application processes and award eligibility criteria for these new programmes at the start of 2009. The new programmes will be in place by 1 April 2009.
Many of our stakeholders stressed the need for transparency and for Sport England to demonstrate we have taken active steps to reduce bureaucracy – and these two issues will be at the heart of the development of the new programmes. Every team at Sport England is working to increase efficiency and we have committed to saving £20m from our running costs by 2010/11.
Jennie Price, Chief Executive of Sport England, said:
“I would like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to the consultation and influence the way we distribute around £45m of National Lottery funding.
“I am confident that the new funding programmes will play a significant part in developing the modern network of sports clubs, coaches and volunteers we need to create sporting opportunities in every community.”
PA Consulting Group has produced a detailed report on the findings of Sport England’s public consultation “Funding Sport in your Community”, which can be found on our website here.
ENDS
Notes to editors
As Sport England moves to the new funding programmes, it will be closing the Community Investment Fund (CIF), which was launched in 2004 and is administered by Sport England’s nine regions. Sport England will continue to accept CIF applications up to and including 6 January 2009, subject to the availability of funds in each region.
Potential applicants for CIF funding are strongly advised to contact the Sport England office in their region to discuss the likelihood of success before committing resources to making an application. Please click here to find the relevant region.
Details of the available funds in each region can be found here.
All applications already being considered by Sport England -- or submitted by 6 January 2009 -- will be processed as normal and all decisions will be based on the published CIF criteria and regional priorities.
Members of the media should contact the communications team: Peter Dickinson on 020 7273 1800, Alex Russell on 020 7273 1866, or Andrew St Ledger on 020 7273 1593.
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