Examples of Sport England's Engagement with RSS

The process of preparing RSSs is new and is meant to be significantly different from previous work on Regional Planning Guidance. The process is also evolving and good and bad practice will emerge over time which will be incorporated into subsequent revisions of this guidance. As a means of sharing experience the examples provide a summary of experience to date drawing from current practice across the Sport England regions.

Engaging with the RSS Preparation Process
Encouraging the RSS Process to Make Links Between Sport and Other Issues
Developing the Evidence Base
Responding to Sub-Regional Strategies

Engaging with the RSS Preparation Process
In an effort to engage actively with the RSS preparation process, Sport England's Strategic Planning Manager in the South West has been seconded into the South West Regional Assembly's Regional Planning Team for one day a week during 2005. The purpose of this closer working relationship is to help ensure that the RSS provides a long term policy framework for developing and improving the sporting and wider cultural infrastructure in the region, particularly in the context of significant population growth over the 20 year period of the strategy.

Encouraging the RSS Process to Make Links Between Sport and Other Issues
The development of Regional Spatial Strategies present opportunities for making connections between complementary areas of interest. Sport and culture are clear candidates for joint working, and regional offices have been pursuing these opportunities.

As part of the preparation for drafting the Yorkshire & Humberside RSS, a topic paper on culture was prepared (Land Use Consultants, November 2004). This sought to: define the most significant cultural, sporting and historic characteristics of the Yorkshire and Humberside region; explore the benefits which can be provided; and identify the ways in which the RSS could potentially respond to the problems and opportunities associated with culture, sport and the historic environment, giving further consideration to the challenges which these policy aspirations present and considering further linkages which can be made between these aspects of the RSS and other policy sectors.

The Topic Paper provides an overview, by seven geographical areas, of the principal cultural, sporting and heritage assets of the Region. A thematic approach is then adopted to identify key recommendations for the RSS, and in turn a series of challenges for those promoting the interests of culture, sport and heritage.

Developing the Evidence Base

Sport England Yorkshire & the Humber commissioned research to explore how the Regional Spatial Strategy could respond to the issues and opportunities identified for sport in the Region. A survey of regional significance and distinctiveness was undertaken to consider, in particular, the value of sport to the Region and how it contributes to other key themes to be addressed by the RSS. The spatial implications of the challenges set by the targets in the Yorkshire Plan for Sport are appraised in the report, namely increasing participation, improving levels of performance, widening access etc. The report provides a detailed sub-area analysis exploring the nature of the key facilities and natural resources, key issues and challenges facing sport in these areas and the spatial implications arising from these challenges. Typical spatial implications include:

Interrelationships between remoter rural areas and market towns in terms of access to and provision of facilities.
Opportunities to package the provision of a range of community facilities in multi-use buildings/sites.
The sporting needs of non-resident visitors to the area.
Overcoming physical barriers to participation amongst those groups where participation levels are lowest.
Use of sport to improve the health and quality of the environment and reduce inequalities.
The provision of new facilities and opportunities based on clusters, focusing on town and city centres, sports centres or complexes, secondary schools, and transport nodes and corridors.
Reclamation of areas of derelict land with recreational use potential.

Responding to Sub-Regional Strategies
The preparation of sub-regional strategies provides an opportunity to integrate sports planning with major developments in areas of growth and regeneration, and with planning for infrastructure provision. A good example is Sport England’s Involvement in Sub-Regional Strategies for the Milton Keynes-South Midlands Growth Area. Milton Keynes-South Midlands (MKSM) was one of the four major new growth areas identified in the Sustainable Communities Plan (2003). It is centred on Milton Keynes itself but also includes Northampton, Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Luton, Bedford and Aylesbury and straddles three regions, the East Midlands, the South-East and the East of England. The Region is expected to provide an additional 170,000 homes up to 2021. A MKSM Inter-Regional Board has been established to ensure delivery of the objectives, policies and proposals contained within the Milton Keynes and South Midlands Sub-Regional Strategy, which was published in its final form in March 2005 and constitutes revisions to the three relevant regional spatial strategies.

The outcome has been a greater emphasis on the role of ‘green infrastructure’ (including recreational and sports facilities, pathways and routes and multi-functional green spaces) as an integral component of delivering sustainable communities within the growth area. As active members of the ‘Environment and Quality of Life’ Sub-Group of the Growth Implementation Group of the main Board, Sport England has also contributed to the publication of two documents that seek to give policy guidance to local delivery vehicles:

‘Living Spaces: Culture and Sustainable Communities in Milton Keynes and the South Midlands’ (published March 2005); and
‘Planning Sustainable Communities: A Green Infrastructure Guide for Milton Keynes and South Midlands’ (published April 2005).

These guides give information on the use of Sport England strategic planning tools such as the Planning Obligations Kitbag, the Sports Facility Calculator and the ‘Towards a Level Playing Field’ document as well as wider sporting and active recreational issues. The above projects and outputs demonstrate not only effective working across three Sport England regional offices but also the benefits of cross-agency partnerships at a strategic level and the contribution Sport England can make to sub-regional planning frameworks.

In the West Midlands, the preparation of the Black Country sub-regional strategy has provided Sport England with an opportunity to set up a cross-boundary sports facility analysis and strategic vision. The intention is build on the sport and recreation strategies which have been developed in order to respond to requirements to undertake robust assessments of existing and future community needs for open space, sports and recreational facilities. These strategies will feed into the Black Country Consortium vision and contribute to the delivery of healthy and vibrant sustainable communities. The potential strategic contribution of sport and active recreation has been identified in: helping to deliver regeneration, facilities in town centres, choice of employment sites, and environmental and accessibility improvements. A co-ordinated approach to sport facility strategy preparation is also seen as helping to deliver consistency across the sub-region.

For sport and active recreation, the Sub-Regional Strategy will consider regional and sub-regional sports facilities (reflecting the priorities within Whole Sport Plans, core community sports facilities, open spaces and playing pitches). It is anticipated that the Facilities Planning Model will play an important part in underpinning the place of sport and active recreation in the Sub-Regional Strategy.