Sport England to fund local delivery pilots from March 2017

Three or four location-based physical activity projects will be funded by Sport England in March 2017 as part of its local delivery pilot scheme.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s arms-length body has set aside £130m (US$162.2m, €153.5m) of Exchequer and National Lottery funding to encourage physical activity in specific areas over the next four years.

A handful of pilot projects will be selected next spring before Sport England begins work on 10 further projects that will “require further development” during 2017.

To bid for funding, Sport England expects “every part of the local sporting system” to work together to create a coherent plan to boost physical activity in their area. Organisations who are not directly involved in the sport sector are also expected to be involved in bids.

Public Health England, other government departments and Lottery distributors will help the grassroots sports quango to identify the right locations and project to work with.

“We’re looking to fund pilot projects in both urban and rural areas, covering different parts of England,” said a statement on the Sport England website.

“We think the right partners working together will best define the size of the pilot area – but we don’t anticipate supporting pilots that focus on very small areas such as an individual street. Nor will we fund larger regions, such as the whole South West of England.”

Sport England will ask for expressions of interest in December, with bidders invited to a working session in January of February 2017.