London 2012: delivering a sporting legacy
The PlaySport London: Facility Fund is part of the Mayor's commitment to deliver a sporting legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The overall aim of the PlaySport London Facility Fund is to raise participation levels in sport in London through the funding of sports facilities. The fund will help to provide affordable, good quality local facilities within local communities.
The Facility Fund is an integral part of ‘A Sporting Future for London’, the Mayor’s 2012 legacy plan, which was unveiled in 2009 by the London Mayor Boris Johnson and his Commissioner for Sport, Kate Hoey. The plan sets out four key goals:
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GOAL ONE: To get more people active
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GOAL TWO: To transform the sporting infrastructure
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GOAL THREE: To build capacity and skills
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GOAL FOUR: To maximise the benefits of sport to our society
As a means of supporting the delivery of Goals One and Two, the Football Foundation is delighted to announce that the first round of the PlaySport London Facility Fund is now ‘live’ and open for applications.
The fund will have several objectives, namely:
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To provide investment to support the development of new sports facilities or the refurbishment of existing facilities with a particular focus on small, community, park or estate-based projects.
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To increase the number and breadth of target groups engaged in sport.
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To prioritise projects for funding that are clearly addressing shortfalls in provision.
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To support the development of multi-sport facilities that are a clear priority for the relevant sports.
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To support projects that are able to demonstrate their sustainability, long term viability (for example through the co-location of services) and offer good value for money.
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To support projects that, in addition to increasing participation rates, seek to address specific retention issues that are affecting their club/organisation or that try to retain participants amongst certain target groups (e.g. women).
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To advocate and promote the protection of London’s playing fields and other existing sports facilities against unnecessary loss.
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To explore ways to increase the use of existing sports facilities, with a particular focus on community usage of school and FE/HE sports provision.
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To encourage the use of London’s parks as places in which to participate in sport.
From April 2010 – March 2013, six rounds of funding will be available to which eligible organisations can apply.
We are now seeking applications for Round One.
There are two categories of grant available for this round of funding:
Category A - applicants can apply for up to a maximum of £50,000. PlaySport London Facility Fund contribution should not exceed 60% of total project cost.
Category A grants are designed for small to medium developments and upgrades of facilities. Examples include, Multi Use Games Areas (MUGA’s), Refurbishment of indoor facilities and estate based ball courts.
Category B - applicants can apply for up to a maximum of £250,000. PlaySport London Facility Fund contribution should not exceed 30% of total project cost.
Category B grants are designed for medium to large developments and the development of new sports facilities. Examples include multi-sport hubs. Applications for larger facility developments in Category A would also be considered.
Please note: A Park Tennis programme will be launched later this year. For this reason, tennis specific projects will not be considered in this bidding round. However, tennis may be included as part of a multi sport application.
Applicants should be aware that the anticipated demand for the PlaySport London Facility Fund will most likely exceed the funds available, so while £250,000 is the upper limit in this category, only a very limited numbers of awards can be made at this level.
Any project application needs to clearly demonstrate that the funding:
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will assist with the creation or refurbishment of a space for the community to play sport in,
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provide a lasting benefit to the community in the immediate vicinity of the project;
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deliver a true multi sport approach
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will focus on raising participation in sports activity, particularly those individuals in the community that would currently be deemed “inactive”[1]. This should mainly be through encouraging new participants onto the facilities, but also can seek to increase the amount of activity by individuals already participating at the sites
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will see a multi-sector approach with local agencies and partners to make best use of the facility.
Revenue Funding
For both Categories, as part of the total funding request, some revenue funding is available to support the facility development, representing 20% of the overall grant being applied for i.e. you could apply for a total grant of £250,000, comprising of £200,000 capital and £50,000 revenue.
This revenue funding should only be used to deliver activities at the facility developed to either:
Round 1 Process
For Round one, a two-staged process will be implemented.
Round 2 will open during October 2010, followed by subsequent rounds in order to allow the maximum number of applicants a reasonable amount of time in which to develop their projects and applications.
Eligibility
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The fund is open to organisations termed ‘not for profit’, which includes Community Interest Companies (CIC) and Social Enterprises (SE).
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Facilities must be located within the boundary of the 32 London Boroughs/City of London.
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Facilities must be utilised by the local community who reside within the 32 London Boroughs/City of London.
to apply
Round One has now closed and successful Expression of Interest applications have now been invited to Stage 2.
Round Two will open for Expressions of Interest in October this year.
If you have any queries on any aspect of this process, please email pslfacilityfund@footballfoundation.org.uk
[1] “An inactive person” is defined as an individual who has participated in less than 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise in the previous four weeks.
