Facilities Planning Model

In order to estimate the level of sports facility provision in an area, the FPM compares the number of facilities (supply), by the demand for that facility that the local population will produce.

The FPM then puts these two elements together to show how much demand is met and not met, and how much supply is used and not used, while also considering how far people are prepared to travel to a facility.

The Model also uses census information at output area level to help establish the profile of the population, including age, gender and Index of Multiple Deprivation scores. These are all used in the model to estimate the demand for sports facilities.

For the supply data, the model uses facility information from the Active Places database published at Active Places Power. The Active Places database is an open dataset which is managed by Sport England for the sector.

Each site within the database is updated no less than annually through a collaboration with site(data) owners and partners across the sector. Site owners and partners are supported by our Data Validation Team at Adetiq.  

Active Places significantly reduces data collection costs by acting as a starting point. However, all data should be verified prior to inclusion in any modelling analysis.

The FPM also uses the information on the road network (Ordnance Survey Multi-modal routing network) to estimate how people travel across an area. This is essential in helping to understand whether the current supply of sports facilities are in the right place to meet the potential demand.

An important feature of the Model is that it’s prescriptive and not predictive in that it does not provide precise estimates of the use of proposed facilities. Instead, it prescribes an appropriate level of provision for any defined area in relation to demand – this reflects national expectations and policies.

The actual usage of a facility will be determined by a range of factors, including management and promotional policies, programming and the quality or attractiveness of the facility concerned.

Because the demand parameters are based on achieved levels of participation, we believe this level of provision represents good practice rather than some unattainable ideal. This is because the levels of use/demand/throughput visits are what could be produced based on what has been observed at existing facilities.

This makes the broad estimates of potential throughput generated by the FPM potentially useful when considering policy options.

They also support the approach as set out in our Strategic Outcomes Planning Guidance and assessing needs guidance.

While the demand for FPM reports from local partners continues to grow, it's proved increasingly difficult to meet this with our limited resources.

For this reason, professional services firm ORH has been appointed to help us deliver the national and local FPM reports, to local partners.

If your authority's looking to access the national FPM-run reports, please be aware there may be a charge if the work can't be resourced by us.

Where this is the case, authorities will be able to access the national FPM-run reports on a chargeable basis through ORH, at £750+VAT per facility type - please note, local bespoke FPM reports remain a chargeable service provided through ORH.

For all jobs, there is a requirement for local authority partners to check the details of the facilities included in all modelling runs.

While the Active Places database will provide an excellent starting point, local authority partners will need to check the facility details are correct before undertaking any analysis.

Local authority partners are in the best place to provide local intelligence on facilities within their area, and their neighbouring areas.

• North (North West, North East, Yorkshire)
• Central (West Midlands, East Midlands, East)
• South (London, South East, South West)
• General enquiries