London mayor Boris Johnson has unveiled new plans to invest £30m in a series of measures to increase participation in grassroots sports in a bid to create a lasting legacy from the 2012 Olympic Games.

Mobile swimming pools, boxing academies, street athletics and competitive sport for profoundly disabled children are among the proposals outlined as part of 'A Sporting Future for London', which was launched by Johnson and the mayor's sports commissioner, Kate Hoey, on 28 April. The primary legacy ambitions of the new initiative are to increase the amount of people participating in sport, improve the co-ordination of grassroots sports in London, upgrade the capital's sporting infrastructure and to help combat child obesity, which NHS London claims affects more than one in five youngsters and costs the city's economy £105m each year.

It is also hoped that 'A Sporting Future for London' will help to create a co-ordinated approach to the activities already carried out by sporting stakeholders across London, boosting existing programmes that are designed to tackle social issues affecting inner-city areas. Johnson said: "We have a unique opportunity with the 2012 Games to set in place a lasting legacy for sport provision across the capital. The success of the Olympics must not be judged on regeneration benefits in the east of London alone.

"This is a once in a lifetime chance to increase sport participation and activity, tackle social and health inequalities and bring the capital's communities together under the same vision." Hoey added: "Our Plan is supported by every key stakeholder and for the first time that I can recall there is a real and palpable sense that we are all pulling together in the right direction with one clear voice."

Image: James O Jenkins