Tyne & Wear Draft Facilities Strategy
Published 13 October 2008
To complement the draft Regional Facilities Strategy, Tyne & Wear Sport has produced a summary paper which begins to explore the position of Tyne & Wear with regard to its sports facility infrastructure, highlighting some key issues and future development opportunities. A copy of the draft summary is available below.
The paper covers the following:
- a review of the context of the sub-region including the demographic profile, current physical activity participation levels and existing sports facilities of sub-regional significance
- identification of National Governing Body (NGB) needs and opportunities for performance and specialist facility provision in Tyne & Wear
- an assessment of the sports facilities that currently exist within the sub-region for general community use including identification of shortfalls and surpluses
- a suggested framework for future sports facility provision including investment priorities and potential funding opportunities.
The recently announced Sport England Strategy for 2008-11 includes a number of significant changes including the centralisation of all decision making regarding funding allocation, the increased influence of National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of Sport and a tighter focus for the regional team. These are all changes which it could be argued enhance the need for Tyne & Wear to produce a detailed facilities strategy as from 2009 onwards the case for facility investment will need to be argued at a national rather than a regional level with Sport England and NGBs. In addition, the production of a detailed sub regional strategy would also help to guide the strategic planning of sports facilities as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme.
The Tyne & Wear Sport Strategic Board has to commission the production of a detailed sub-regional facilities strategy to explore those issues revealed within the summary document. The first action towards producing the plan will be the formation of a steering group consisting of representatives from partner organisations. Further work is likely to include more detailed research following on from the findings in the regional strategy, which will ultimately identify the priorities for sports facility development within the sub-region i.e. what facilities are needed and where. It will also explore in more detail, the opportunities available through major regeneration projects and higher and further education sector developments.
