Sport NI Places for Sport 09/10
Overview
The Sport Northern Ireland (Sport NI) Places for Sport Programme is designed to assist with the delivery of the new Strategy for Sport and Physical Recreation 2009-19, soon to be launched by the Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure to provide a vision of 'a culture of lifelong enjoyment and success in sport'. To achieve this vision, the Strategy recognises the need to develop a range of new, improved and shared sports facilities to a standard comparable with other regions in the UK.
The programme specifically focuses on five areas:
- Pitches and other outdoor sports surfaces e.g. athletic tracks/tennis courts etc
- Indoor specialised sports surfaces (a) Floodlighting of training pitches (b) Floodlighting for main pitches - only available for strategically important venues
- Buildings - Construction of a new two or four changing room, pavilion/Extensions to existing changing pavilions where there is a demonstrated need for additional provision
- Purchase of equipment - Equipment must be based permanently in one location and must be new and not replacement or maintenance equipment.
Places for Sport: 09/10 funding will be available for projects which can achieve significant spend before 31 March 2010. Applicants can apply for an award from £10,000 up to a maximum of £245,000.
It is hoped that future rounds of this programme will open in the near future which will cater for those applications who do not have a project in such an advanced 'State of Readiness', and it is likely that these future programmes will have an increased funding threshold (in excess of £245,000 and similar to those made under the Building Sport Programme).
Key Questions
If you answer YES to ALL of the above, then you may qualify for this programme.
- Do you have planning permission for your proposed development or can you confirm/demonstrate that planning permission is not required?
- Do you own your own ground or have security of tenure in place which meets the requirements for the programme which are:
- Buildings - must show ownership of the proposed site of at least 21 years
- Pitches - must show ownership of the proposed site of at least 10 years
- Equipment - must show access to the storage facility through an Access Agreement for at least 5 years (Please see Page 15 of the Information and Guidance Notes)
- Do you have partnership funding in place?
- Can your project achieve significant spend before 31 March 2010.
If you would be interested in applying for this scheme, and can satisfy ALL of the criteria above, please download the following Application Form and Information and Guidance Notes:
How to Apply
Full guidelines, additional documentation and application forms are available from the Sport NI website. Sport NI may reopen this programme in late summer/autumn depending on the budget available.
GT Team 18 August 2010
Future phases of the Places for Sport Programme
Based on the current budget allocation agreed by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), Sport Northern Ireland does not currently have a budget for a Places for Sport Programme in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13.
In the event that funding unexpectedly becomes available during the above three years Sport Northern Ireland will inform all governing bodies, Local Authorities and Education Boards and will undertake a major publicity exercise to inform the general public of any new Places for Sport programme.
Please note the sports facilities already in your area and any new ones planned are key to Sport Northern Ireland understanding why your organisation needs additional sports facilities. Sport Northern Ireland has carried out a major piece of research - Active Places Research Report, Bridging the Gap, 2009. This research analyses the current stock of sporting facilities across a number of key facility types and identifies facility shortfalls and areas of particular need. Sport Northern Ireland will now use this strategy to guide its future investment in sporting facilities and all applications to the Places for Sport Programme will be assessed against the need identified in this research.
