Social enterprise and leisure trust Tone has been awarded the contract to operate phase three of an ongoing Active Villages programme in three Devon districts.

Originally created by Active Devon, a countywide partnership for physical activity and sports, Active Villages is a development programme designed to provide long term, sustainable sports opportunities for village residents of all ages.

Funded by Sport England and Devon County Council, the scheme is positioned at the informal end of the sports spectrum, with the main objective being to offer rural communities the chance to experience the fun of sport and encourage people to adopt active lifestyles because they enjoy it. The project addresses Sport England's GROW objective, which aims to see one million people taking part in more sport, and more children and young people taking part in five hours of PE and sport a week.

Having already been appointed to deliver phases one and two, Tone, which operates leisure facilities on behalf of local authorities as well as providing sports and health development services, will operate the phase three of the Active Villages programme in North Devon, Mid Devon and the South Hams. It focuses on parish communities with between 500 and 2,000 residents by developing bespoke sports packages tailored to local needs and delivering them within the communities themselves.

Phase three of the programme is expected to start in March 2012 and run until April 2012.

"As a social enterprise it's important for us to reach out beyond our leisure centres into areas where access to sports and leisure facilities are limited," commented Joel Chapman, Tone's commercial director.

"In our region there are a lot of rural communities and it's important to give them the opportunity to get active without having to travel for miles to get to the nearest gym or pool. We've laid some really good foundations in phases one and two, such as engaging other community groups and setting up regular volunteer-led activities. It's now about building on these foundations to increase the level of participation and breadth of activities."