Devon receives £250,000 lottery investment to give local sport a boost

The Devon County Council-led bid is among 32 projects to receive a share of £5.1 million of funding to support grassroots sport activity across the country and build a lasting legacy from last year’s successful Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Devon County Council has committed £125,000 of its 2012 legacy investment towards the project and has led its development on behalf of a consortium including Devon’s nine local authorities. Active Devon, the County Sports Partnership, will also play a key role by managing the implementation of the project using its expertise and networks for the delivery of community sports development programmes. Taken together the project represents an investment of £394,000 over three years in to community sport in Devon.

Devon Active Communities aims to activate over 500 community group-based informal sport projects, creating nearly 400 new community-based Activity Leaders and reaching over 6,500 Devon residents in the process.

The project follows the success of the Active Devon and Devon County Council’s previous collaboration ‘Active Villages’, an initiative based in rural areas, letting communities guide what activities were needed, then supporting the residents to get the activities off the ground and training locals to deliver sessions, making activities self-sustaining. This new project takes certain principles of this success story into urban areas for the first time and launches 1st June 2013, lasting for three years.

Devon County Councillor Roger Croad, Cabinet Member for communities: “This is really good news for Devon. The funding will mean that we can continue to engage with many more communities to take part in sporting activities at a local level, whilst ensuring the activities are sustainable for many years to come.”

Chief Executive at Active Devon, Matt Evans added “We are delighted that Devon County Council’s bid has been successful. We know that when you talk to people in local communities and enable them to deliver the types of informal sports activities that fit their lifestyles you can help more people access the fun and benefits of playing sport and being active. This investment will enable us to take an approach that has worked so well in rural communities into Devon’s urban communities. What a great way to build upon the success of last year’s Olympics and Paralympics.”

The Community Sport Activation Fund builds on previous funding campaigns, which have shown that the key to success is finding out what people want from sport – and what ‘s stopping them from getting involved – before designing an offer that’s appealing, accessible and secures their long-term involvement.

Sport England’s Community Sport Director, Mike Diaper, said: “This fund was created to respond to the demand among local communities for investment to reach down to the local level. By working with new partners, taking a flexible approach and investing in innovative ideas, we’re offering people the chance to get into sport in a way that most suit their needs and aspirations.”

Local government, voluntary and third sector groups and organisation are among those receiving funding and alongside Sport England’s investments, all of the projects are contributing partnership funding towards their multi-sports programmes that will run for up to three years.

Minister for Sport, Hugh Robertson, said: “Congratulations to the 32 projects that will be receiving a share of this £5.1 million national lottery fund. They will help improve the sporting offer in communities across the country and drive up sport participation levels.”

The Community Sport Activation Fund will invest a total of £40 million of funding over five funding rounds. The second round of funding is now open and closes on 1 July 2013. Community groups, charities and councils are among those that can bid for funding for up to three years, with grants between £50,000 and £250,000 available for a wide range of projects.

Successful projects bidding to this fund will demonstrate:

• A focus on a defined geographical area and community
• Understanding of what local people want from sport with ambitious but realistic plans to get more people involved
• Strong local partnership, including other funding sources.

You can find full details of fund at http://www.sportengland.org/funding/csaf.aspx