WIREDGOV

A boxing club in Manchester’s Moss Side has been named as the first project to benefit from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund, as it emerged that over six hundred sports clubs across England have applied to the Olympic legacy fund’s first round.

The Inspired Facilities fund is part of the £135 million Places People Play legacy programme that is bringing the magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities across the country. Every sports facility that receives funding will carry the London 2012 Inspire mark – celebrating the link to the Games.

Moss Side Boxing & Athletics Association will receive £41,355 of Lottery funding to upgrade the facilities at the gym, which has helped thousands of local people get into sport since it opened its doors in 1981. Among those who have trained at the club are John Murray and his brother Joe, who fought at the Beijing Olympics.

A further 631 sports groups will find out before Christmas whether their bid has been successful, while another 2,000 applications have been created by organisations looking to apply in the four remaining funding rounds.

Responding to the unprecedented demand, Sport England today announced that up to £7 million of additional awards will be made in the first round of investment decisions, taking the total to £17 million1.

The investments will breathe new life into tired facilities that can be unattractive to sports participants, difficult to maintain and run. Grants will also be available to convert existing buildings into venues that are suitable for grassroots sport.

Sport England’s Chair, Richard Lewis, said: “For hundreds of clubs and tens of thousands of people, 2012 will be the year their local sports facilities got better.

“This fund has really hit the mark with sports clubs. It shows we’re offering the sporting legacy that people want and that our work to simplify the application process has paid off.”

Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson MP, said: “We want to use the Olympic and Paralympics next summer to inspire a generation to get involved in sport across the country. This is why as part of the £135 million Places People Play legacy programme we invited community sports clubs to apply for funding to upgrade their facilities. I am delighted that the Moss Side Boxing & Athletics Association is the first to benefit from this funding and hope it goes from strength to strength in the future.”

Inspired Facilities has been designed to be as simple and accessible as possible for potential applicants, with a shorter form and a catalogue of ready-made options to choose from. Analysis of the 632 bids shows this has worked with:

• Bids from every county in England
• 85 sports featuring across the applications
• 18 sports appearing in ten or more bids, including basketball, boxing, football and rugby union.

Places People Play is being delivered by Sport England. We are working in partnership with the British Olympic Association (BOA) and the British Paralympic Association (BPA) with the backing of The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) through the London 2012 Inspire mark.

LOCOG Chair, Seb Coe, said: “This is a fantastic funding project that will deliver a real legacy from the London 2012 Games. It will provide a whole range of sporting opportunities for young people through improved facilities and will I hope inspire them to take up sport.”

Notes to Editors

Inspired Facilities

Inspired Facilities is part of the Places People Play legacy programme. At least £52 million will be invested through Inspired Facilities. All funding decisions for round one will be made before Christmas, with work starting on site from January 2012. There will be four more funding rounds as part of Inspired Facilities, with the second round opening on 1 February 2012.

At least £35 million of the funding will go to community and voluntary organisations, through grants of between £20,000 and £50,000. The remaining funding will be open to a wider group of organisations, including councils and schools, with grants of up to £150,000 available.

To make sure the technical elements of the application process don’t put off groups with good projects, Sport England has created a catalogue of typical facilities developments and improvements, based on what sports clubs have told us they need.

Sport England

Sport England is focused on the delivery of a mass participation legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We invest National Lottery and Exchequer funding in organisations and projects that will grow and sustain participation in grassroots sport and create opportunities for people to excel at their chosen sport.

Footnotes

¹ £5 million of the additional funding will be brought forward from subsequent funding rounds, but Sport England will consider adding to the total budget for Inspired Facilities should demand remain high in the four remaining funding rounds. The remaining £2.3 million will be additional Exchequer funding for this programme.