Multi-Sport Activity and Facilities
The multi-sport facilities commitment was identified as a key priority within Sport England’s Uniting the Movement Implementation Plan. As part of this commitment, from 2022 to 2025, up to £224 million of Government funding will be invested into community football facilities via the Football Foundation, with a minimum of 40% of the investment required to benefit other sports.
Through the work on this programme so far, community and stakeholder engagement has identified a need for additional resource to support the activation of these facilities, helping to maximise the benefit of this investment to other sports and ensuring that key audiences are reached.
Community engagement has also revealed a need for small-scale capital investment to support single sport facilities, and that park improvements to create Active Environments around investment sites, would also help encourage greater use by local people.
In response to this feedback, Sport England created a new £8 million four-year fund – the Multi-Sport Activity and Facilities Fund - which will support the activation of funded sites and the creation of safe spaces around these facilities.
The fund will ensure that local communities will fully benefit from facility activation investment in their area, where an opportunity for new multi-sport activity has been identified. It will focus on activating PlayZones and other Football Foundation 3G or grass pitches, parks (through Lawn Tennis Association Parks Tennis) and artificial grass pitch sites (via England Hockey) in targeted areas. Selection is based on criteria such as Active Partnerships priority places and Sport England’s place-based expansion.
The Active Partnerships National Organisation is overseeing and implementing this area of work, with the help of eight regional leads across the network and alongside key partners, including: Active Partnerships who will deliver the fund locally, the Football Foundation, the LTA Parks Tennis, England Hockey, and of course Sport England.