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83 projects in the North West have benefited, investment across England reaches £40m

11 October 2005 Press release

Sport England today announced that it has reached the £40 million mark in funding around 550 community sports club projects throughout England. This includes over £7 million for 83 projects in the North West.

Projects ranging from the restoration of playing fields, new pitch lighting, and the upgrading of tennis courts, to the modernisation of cycling tracks and new synthetic pitches, have been supported through the Community Club Development Programme, managed by Sport England and funded by the Government Department for Culture, Media and Sport.  Awards vary in size from around £5,000 to £925,000, with over half of the £40 million investment going into projects directly located in or impacting on the 20 percent most deprived parts of the country.  

This investment represents the successful completion of the second wave of funding from the Community Club Development Programme, a five-year, £100 million Exchequer fund designed to give 19 National Governing Bodies the opportunity to bid directly for funds for community capital projects throughout England. The success of the first wave of the Programme, led to an extra £40 million being invested for 2006-08. The Programme has also secured an additional £30 million of inward investment into sport through partnering with a number of organisations including the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and European Regeneration as well as local authorities.

Richard Caborn, Sports Minister said: "The Community Club Development Programme has been a big success for sport across this country. Good sporting facilities are not only crucial to supporting grassroots in schools and communities, they also provide young people the opportunity to develop into champions, for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 and beyond.”

Stewart Kellett, Regional Director for Sport England in the North West, said: “This programme is an innovative way of helping to ensure that community clubs – the heart of grassroots sports development in the North West – receive the capital investment they need.  This is central to achieving our vision of England becoming the most active and successful sporting nation in the world.

“Our objective in managing this programme is to respond to the priorities of each Governing Body.  As part of the modernisation of sport in England, Sport England has committed these funds on the basis of the bids of the nation’s most popular sports themselves.  This programme has for the first time given the sports the opportunity to identify capital projects in need of investment and to work in partnership with Sport England to make them a success.”

The 16 National Governing Bodies that have benefited so far include:  badminton, basketball, canoeing, cricket, cycling, football, gymnastics, hockey, judo, netball, rowing, rugby league, rugby union, table tennis, tennis and swimming.  Of these, cricket, football, rugby union and tennis have an allocation each of £14.15 million over five years.  The remaining 12 sports have a total allocation of £39 million over five years.  From April 2006 Boxing, Squash and Golf will also be eligible to apply for funding.

Funding overview (awards to date) by Governing Body as at 19 September 2005

Funding overview by region at 19/9/05

Community Club Development Programme project examples in the North West include:

SKK Judo Club in St Helens has received a total grant of £763,040 for a new two mat judo centre with changing rooms. Located in a deprived part of St Helens, the project had been identified by the British Judo Association as one of the top four community clubs for investment. The existing facilities will be demolished and replaced with brand new facilities that will enable the club to expand the range of opportunities it offers to the local community.

Liverpool City Council in conjunction with Belvedere School has received a grant of £133,000 to enhance the facilities on offer to the Princess Park Tennis Club, which is based at the school. The project encompasses the resurfacing of four porous macadam courts and four floodlit mini tennis courts, a kidszone, floodlighting to four courts and a new clubhouse. Belvedere School is situated within an area of high deprivation and social exclusion in Toxeth, where standards of sports facilities, health, employment and crime are poor. Liverpool City Council, The Girls Day Trust who run the school, Sport England and the LTA all recognise the sporting benefits of this project, as well as the positive effects of ensuring that quality facilities form an integral part of the overall regeneration of the Toxeth area.

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