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2012 legacy boost for Derbyshire as sports playing fields are protected and improved

24 October 2011

The announcement came as Sport England invited communities across the East Midlands to bring the 2012 legacy to life in their area by bidding for support for a local playing field through the second £2m round of the £10m Protecting Playing Fields fund.

In round one, more than £2m of National Lottery funding has been offered to sports clubs and local groups to bring disused playing fields back into use, improve existing sites or create new sports pitches. Protecting Playing Fields is part of the Places People Play legacy programme to bring the inspiration and magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities all over the country.

Sport England’s Chair, Richard Lewis, said: “These investments will transform the local pitches where many young people have their first experience of sport. With all of the playing fields safe from development for at least a generation, communities across the East Midlands can look forward to years of sporting enjoyment.”

The funding offers in Derbyshire are:

• £50,000 for Wirksworth and Middleton Cricket Club, in the Derbyshire Dales, will carry out ground extension and improvement woks, which will enable greater flexibility and quality facilities for the expected rise in users.

• £50,000 for Brassington Recreation Ground Charitable Association (BRGCA), also in the Derbyshire Dales, will construct a new full size football pitch.

• £50,000 for Chesterfield Panthers Rugby Union Football Club, for the second phase of the club’s relocation from Stonegravels to Dunston. Not only will the Club be creating brand new pitches and facilities for themselves but, as part of a community sports development with the Borough Council, they will be providing two football pitches, a cricket square, a multi use games area, a netball court and outdoor exercise stations alongside a trim trail in an area where there had previously been no facilities at all.

Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson MP, said: “When we speak about leaving a lasting legacy from hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games it’s about offering people more opportunities and better facilities to play sport, and protecting playing fields is central to this ambition. Thousands of sportsmen and women will now benefit from Sport England’s Protecting Playing Fields legacy fund seeing improvements to existing sites and bringing disused community playing fields back into use.”

All of the playing fields will also be protected from developers for at least 25 years, creating an enduring benefit for sport. They will also become Queen Elizabeth II Fields after agreeing to dedicate their playing field in “perpetuity”. This is thanks to a partnership with Fields in Trust (FIT) which is running the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge as part of the programme to mark the Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics.

Andrew Mason Chairman of BRGCA said: “I would like to thank Sport England for believing in our project and helping us to deliver what will be a real asset to Brassington Village and the surrounding area.  We would also like to thank Acclaim Housing and Exton Trust which have donated £33,000."

Graham Bell, from Chesterfield Panthers, said: “This award will make a valuable contribution to a project which will see the club spend around £2,000,000 in the area over the next two years in creating sports facilities for use not only by our club but also for all members of the community. It is the culmination of 16 years of hard work and represents a long overdue improvement to the sporting provision in the area.”

Nationally, more than half of the groups benefiting from Protecting Playing Fields are community sports clubs while six are playing field associations, five are parish councils and three are schools or colleges.

The awards include the purchase of five playing field sites totalling 25 acres and 13 pitches.

By simplifying the application process and reducing the technical expertise required to bid, Sport England has opened up this funding to groups that haven’t previously received public money. Almost half the successful bidders (23) were first-time applicants.

Protecting Playing Fields builds on the work Sport England already does to safeguard playing fields as a statutory consultee on all planning applications affecting a sports playing field.

Applications for round two of Protecting Playing Fields will be accepted via Sport England’s website between October 24, 2011 and December 12, 2011. Community and voluntary sector groups can apply without partnership funding. Anyone interested in applying should visit www.sportengland.org/funding (opens in a new window) for more details or call 08458 508 508.