Agenda item

Cabinet considered a report which proposed acceptance of up to £6.975m further grant funding from Sport for England, to maximise opportunities from the Local Delivery Pilot for a further 4 year period, to deliver Phase 4 and 5 of the Investment Plan to help address physical inactivity levels across the Borough.

To date, the Council had secured significant investment from Sport for England in 3 phases to develop a variety of themes and project areas previously approved by Cabinet in 2018 and 2019.

The proposed funding would provide further resource to develop and enhance the 3 phases already in place, and would assist with capacity building and evaluation.

Details of the Phase 4 of the Local Delivery Pilot Investment Plan covering Active Communities, Future Parks, Active Travel and Dance, were set out at paragraphs 26 to 44 of the report.  Phase 5 proposals, covering Capacity and Evaluation, were detailed at paragraphs 45 to 47 of the report.

Councillor Nigel Ball, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Leisure and Culture, in introducing the report highlighted the benefits this would bring to Doncaster Borough, and in particular, emphasised the following points contained in the report:-

“Increasing the levels of inactivity will not simply be addressed by encouraging or educating our residents to do more exercise or sport.

We feel that we need to provide the right support, policy and environments so residents are able to be active as part of their daily lives.

Doncaster residents have the right to be able to walk safely to the shops, play in the park, cycle to work, have access to good quality leisure centres and be walking distance from a local and affordable dance, or a yoga class.

This report sets out how we might collectively activate these rights of our residents while also challenging our decisions on what might negatively impact on how active and vibrant a Borough we live in should be.

This is our largest investment request to Sport England to date, and will provide resources up until 2025 to develop sustainable approaches to embed movement into all aspects of life in Doncaster.

We hope from this to provide a legacy, a lasting legacy.

The bid includes both revenue and capital expenditure.  These are detailed within the report, but will include:-

·         Supporting residents and communities to co-design and develop hyper-local solutions to the barriers that get in the way of being active;

·         Working with the dance sector to expand their support for residents who are inactive, so there are opportunities to access affordable sessions in all parts of the Borough;

·         Community engagement on low traffic neighbourhoods, school street proposals and to trial approaches to address inclusivity;

·         We will also look at £1.6m to develop opportunities for activities, and to support volunteers in parks across the Borough; and

·         £3.2m of capital expenditure to provide improvements to 15 parks across the Borough in our most needy areas.

There will be further opportunities to request funding based on what works well, and to take advantage of any opportunities where the Council and our partners can work together to provide the conditions for residents to be active, and to live happier and healthier lives.

Improving the Borough’s physical activity levels has been a huge part to play in our health and wellbeing which is highlighted even more in consideration of the current, and future impacts of COVID -19, but that is not the only benefit.  If Doncaster continues to prioritise the importance of addressing inactivity, there will be wider benefits to the Borough including reduced crime, pollution and traffic, and an increase in property values, productivity, educational performance and a quality of life of our residents in Doncaster. I highly support this report. Thank you.”

Cabinet expressed their support for the initiative, noting that Doncaster was one of only 12 places in England to be awarded Local Delivery Pilot status, which they felt was to be celebrated.

Cabinet also welcomed that the extension to the pilot would be a community led approach, which would encourage, enable, engage and empower Doncaster’s local communities and residents to develop their own solutions to increase opportunities for people to be more active and to overcome barriers to physical activity.

In commenting on the report, Councillor Rachael Blake, Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care, was pleased to note that Phase 4 now provided for ‘Dance’, which would help keep older residents more active, enable people to remain independent and stay in their communities, and receive support from the Council when needed.