Funding Available to Improve Sports Facilities

Sport England has announced that the Inspired Facilities Fund will re-open in Spring 2014 for applications.
The Inspired Facilities Fund is part of the Places People Play programme which aims to deliver a mass participation sporting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Through Inspired Facilities, Sport England will award capital grants to refurbish and improve up to 1,000 community sports clubs. This could for example include:

• A sprung floor that converts an unused hall into a local multi-sport facility
• New changing rooms, so away teams no longer need to change in the car park
• And / or new floodlights that mean a facility can be used for many more hours of the day; etc.

Community and voluntary organisations, including sports clubs, parish and town councils can apply for grants worth between £20,000 and £50,000. At least 70% of the available funding available is set aside for these groups. The remaining money will be open to a wider group of organisations, including councils and schools, with grants of up to £150,000 available.
If one of the groups benefitting from a planned project is disadvantaged young people aged under 18, applicants can apply for additional capital (to cover building costs) or revenue (day-to-day operating costs) funding from the Thomas Cook Children’s Charity. A case study given is that of an inner-city secondary school that has opened its facilities to the community for many years but wants to do more. The school could apply for funding for improved sports hall lighting, storage unit for archery and BMX equipment as well as floodlighting to BMX area.
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Posted on 13th January 2014