Grassroots sport gets £40m legacy windfall

A further £40m ($62m, €47m) of National Lottery funding will be made available to grassroots sport during 2014-17.

Sport England today announced that it will extend its Inspired Facilities Olympic and Paralympic legacy fund, designed to improve local facilities - from new playing surfaces to floodlights and better changing rooms.

So far, 1,361 grassroots sports facilities have benefitted in the two years since Inspired Facilities was launched, with a total of £69.9m being invested.

Nick Bitel said: "A year on from the Olympics, it's inspiring to see how our investment is transforming sporting facilities in hundreds of communities.

"The great news for sports clubs across the country is that we're putting an extra £40m into Inspired Facilities so many more projects will benefit in the coming years."

Bids for the next round of Inspired Facilities funding will be accepted from the 21 October 2013. To find out more about the fund and to apply, click here to visit the Inspired Facilities website.