Sport England North East has made huge improvements in terms of the quantity of quality facilities in the region, with over 70% of North East adults* satisfied with their local sports provision – and it now plans to build on this already well established network.

Working with PMP, a specialist sport and leisure consultancy, Sport England North East is producing a Sports Facilities Strategy for the region. The strategy will tell us how many sports facilities we have in the North East, what condition they are in and how much they are used as well as provide plans for future development.

There will be an assessment of the quality, quantity and accessibility of key sports facilities across the region.

Sport England and PMP will talk to National Governing Bodies of Sport, County Sports Partnerships and other key sports providers to establish the specialist facility requirements for each sport, and discuss plans for more facilities.

The impact of the 2012 Olympics and the opportunities this will provide in the region will also be discussed and a funding and delivery options appraisal will be conducted to consider funding opportunities to support the Sports Facilities Strategy.

The Regional Strategy will help local authorities gain a clear picture of facility provision within their area and will identify priorities, issues and opportunities for sub-regional facility strategies.

Judith Rasmussen, regional director for Sport England North East, says: “The Sports Facilities Strategy will be a useful tool for the North East, and means we can keep stock of all the sports facilities across the region and ensure we continue to make improvements.

“Sport England actively encourages partnerships, sharing of knowledge and discussion at a national and regional level, both within the sports sector and wider, in order to ensure that local people have access to a large amount of quality local facilities.

“By improving our already high quality provision across the North East, we are hoping to raise even more participation in sport, and will continue to work together with PMP to guarantee constant improvements.”

PMP will draw on their experience of working on over 75 facility strategies across the country to deliver a robust and practical strategy that will address sporting needs in the North East up to 2020.

If you wish to comment on the existing provision of sports facilities in the North East or provide suggestions for future improvements/developments, you can email the consultants direct at northeastsports@pmpconsult.com

* Recently, Sport England’s Active People Survey found that over 70% of North East adults were satisfied with their local sports provision – a result which is much higher than the national average.