Luton playing pitch strategy 2014 2021 contents
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Objective (g) - Secure tenure and access to sites for high quality development minded clubs through a range of solutions and partnership agreementsLocal sports clubs should be supported to achieve sustainability across a range of areas including management, membership, funding, facilities, volunteers and partnership working. For example, the Council should continue to support club development and encourage clubs to develop evidence of business and sports development plans to generate an income through their facilities. All clubs could be encouraged to look at different management models such as registering as Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC)2. Clubs should also be encouraged to work with partners locally whether volunteer support agencies or linking with local businesses. As well as improving the quality of well-used, local authority sites, there are a number of sites which have poor quality (or no) ancillary facilities. It is recommended that security of tenure should be granted to the clubs playing on these sites (minimum 25 years as recommended by Sport England and NGBs) so the clubs are in a position to apply for external funding to improve the ancillary facilities. There is potential for a number of further sites in Luton to be leased to sports clubs and/or organisations. Each club will be required to meet service and/or strategic objectives set out by the Council. However, an additional set of criteria should be considered, which take into account the quality of the club, aligned to its long term development objectives and sustainability. The criteria will be crucial in determining which clubs are successful as historically there are more requests for such an arrangement than there are sites available. In the context of the Comprehensive Spending Review, which announced public spending cuts, it is increasingly important for the Council to work with voluntary sector organisations in order that they may be able to take greater levels of ownership and support the wider development and maintenance of facilities. To facilitate this, the Council should support and enable clubs to generate sufficient funds to allow this. Recommended criteria for lease of sport sites to clubs/organisations
The Council can further recognise the value of Clubmark/Charter Standard by adopting a policy of prioritising the clubs that are to have access to these better quality facilities. This may be achieved by inviting clubs to apply for season long leases on a particular site as an initial trial. Club outcomes for lease agreementsThe Council should establish a series of core outcomes to derive from clubs taking on a lease arrangement to ensure that the most appropriate clubs are assigned to sites. As an example outcomes may include:
In addition, clubs should be made fully aware of the associated responsibilities/liabilities when considering leases of multi-use public playing fields. Community Asset Transfer Policy The Council should continue to work towards adopting a policy, currently in draft format, which supports community management and transfer of ownership of assets to local clubs, community groups and trusts. This presents sports clubs and national governing bodies with opportunities to take ownership of their own facilities; it may also provide non-asset owning sports clubs with their first chance to take on a building. The Sport England Community Sport Asset Transfer Toolkit is a bespoke, interactive web based tool that provides a step by step guide through each stage of the asset transfer process: http://www.sportengland.org/support__advice/asset_transfer.aspx Objective (h) - To increase opportunities to support informal sporting activities Informal sports have many valuable attributes; because the structure is informal players get to use their interpersonal skills by choosing sides and organising the games. They devise rules for the game and take responsibility to resolve disputes by compromising and collaborating with their peers so that the games may continue. Participants’ interactions are more relaxed because they are not as pressured to win. As a result, the focus is on social aspects, exercising, enjoying sports skills, learning in a relaxed environment and having fun. In order to ensure opportunities are increased and sustained to accommodate informal sports, dedicated provision in public parks is required. This is most applicable to cricket and football in Luton. To help support informal activity, the following may be a useful guide: Improving accessibility: providing easy, safe and convenient access to a choice of opportunities for participating in sport and physical activity and active travel for the whole community. Enhancing amenity: promoting environmental quality in the design and layout of new sports and recreational facilities, their links and relationship to other buildings and the wider public realm. Increasing awareness: raising the prominence and legibility of sports and recreation facilities and opportunities for physical activity through the design and layout of development. Specifically in Luton the following types of informal facility should be provided on public sites with free access to meet identified demand:
Sport England provides further design guidance aimed at increasing active participation which can be found at: https://www.sportengland.org/media/48865/Active-design.pdf Objective (i) Work with NGBs to ensure that there is a link/pathway for those that want to move into formal sport There are a range of benefits which can be gained from NGB affiliation, including, for example:
There are also some ‘softer’ benefits for individuals associated with NGB membership which can include:
Each NGB is responsible for signposting individuals to a formal club/opportunity. This could start in the form of semi structured sessions where people can just turn up and play. As an example, The FA operates popular Just Play sessions at Ashcroft School.
To maximise investment into outdoor sports facilities |