Sport and leisure play a positive role in promoting the health and well-being of people and their communities, with local councils continuing to work hard to provide these services despite financial impacts from loss of income due to facility closures during the pandemic and the impacts from increasing energy bills and the cost of living crisis.
About the Local Government Association (LGA)
- The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national voice of local government. We are a politically led, cross party membership organisation, representing councils from England and Wales.
- We aim to be the best membership organisation we can be. As the national membership body for local authorities, we provide the bridge between central and local government and we help councils deliver the best services to their local communities.
Key messages
- Community sport and physical activity makes a significant contribution to the economy and society. In 2017/18 the combined social and economic value of participating and volunteering in community sport and physical activity in England was £85.5 billion. Of this amount almost £72 billion ;of social value (i.e. positive impact on communities) was created through improved health and mental wellbeing, improved educational attainment and increased earnings, reduced crime and stronger communities.
- The LGA’s Securing the Future of Public Sport and Leisure report drew together evidence of public sport, leisure and physical activity’s contribution to creating a healthier more active nation, greater economic growth and productivity, addressing health inequalities and reducing the burden on the NHS and social care and cutting carbon emissions.
- Councils have a key role to play – they are the biggest funders, spending £1.4bn a year running public sport, leisure, parks services and green spaces, playgrounds, youth services, and community halls. They are also place shapers and have a convening and supporting role in setting the context in which physical activity can flourish such as through active travel and environments, integrating with NHS, social care and public health. Sport and leisure are discretionary, but councils invest because they see the value to local people.
- Councils provide communities with access to vital facilities to improve their physical and mental wellbeing. Importantly, three quarters of grassroots sports clubs depend on affordable public leisure facilities to provide opportunities to be active, without them they would not survive.
- Sport England estimates 63 per cent of main sports halls and 60 per cent of swimming pools are past their expected lifespans or overdue refurbishment and Swim England forecasting a 40 per cent reduction in the number of public pools available. As a result the public leisure estate is not energy efficient and currently accounts for between 10 to 40 per cent of a council’s direct carbon emissions
- 72 per cent of primary schools rely on publicly provided pools to deliver their statutory responsibility for children to learn to swim and life saving skills in water safety. The latest Active Lives survey for children and young people (2021/22) shows an increase in gym and fitness activity in children aged five to 11 and a steady upward trend in young people aged 11 -16 doing gym and fitness classes. Active play (62 per cent), team sports (58per cent) and active travel (57 per cent) were the most common activities across all children and young people, demonstrating the importance of a mix of options for children and young people to access to be active.
- While provision of physical activity opportunities in a school environment is vital, it is important to ensure a diversity of complementary provision outside of a school setting for those who do not flourish in a formal environment or may have to travel long distances. It is in this context that council-run facilities and the voluntary groups that use them come to the fore. More can be done to use the school setting to support ease of transition between the two environments so that healthy behaviours learned in one setting can be maintained in the other.
- Councils face ongoing inflationary and pay pressures alongside spiking demand and market challenges in areas such as children’s social care and temporary accommodation. In particular, the pressure from increased demand for social care support is squeezing councils’ ability to spend on other services. Councils need a long-term, sustainable, multi-year funding settlement if they are to continue investing in these vital community services.
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the value communities place on leisure and park services and being active. Councils were able to connect with communities in new and innovative and increasingly virtual ways, adapting services to meet needs during national lockdowns and beyond. Sport and leisure play a positive role in promoting the health and well-being of people and their communities, with local councils continuing to work hard to provide these services despite financial impacts from loss of income due to facility closures during the pandemic and the impacts from increasing energy bills and the cost of living crisis. Councils' role can include, but is not limited to, refurbishing and building sports facilities, promoting the benefits of participation, connecting physical activity across wider council agendas such as planning, active environments, co-location and integration with health services and carbon reduction.
Councils have a key role to play – they are the biggest funders, spending £1.4bn a year running public sport, leisure, parks services and green spaces, playgrounds and community halls. They are also place shapers and have a convening and supporting role in setting the context in which physical activity can flourish such as through active travel and environments, integrating with NHS, social care and public health. Sport and leisure are discretionary, but councils invest because they see the value to local people.
Councils are in a unique position to work with their local communities to develop and adapt spaces in a way that increases physical and mental health and wellbeing whilst also creating great places to live, work and play. Many councils in consultation with communities are reassessing current sport and leisure provision to create a more sustainable future, this is increasingly seeing traditional leisure services transition to being focused on active wellbeing services – better integrated with health services. For example East Riding of Yorkshire Council has developed a partnership and IT system between local GPs and leisure centres to deliver social prescribing locally. GPs can refer patients, through a council-designed IT system, onto schemes to increase exercise and tackle obesity. The improved health outcomes resulting from these efforts have saved an estimated £2.5 million for the NHS, demonstrating how social prescribing and leisure services can contribute to reducing pressure on acute services.
Three quarters of grassroots sports clubs depend on affordable public leisure facilities to provide opportunities to be active, without them they would not survive. They are important because community sport and physical activity makes a significant contribution to the economy and society. In 2017/18 the combined social and economic value of participating and volunteering in community sport and physical activity in England was £85.5 billion. Of this amount almost £72 billion of social value (i.e. positive impact on communities) was created through improved health and mental wellbeing, improved educational attainment and increased earnings, reduced crime and stronger communities.
Councils also have a role to play in working with Locally Trusted Organisations (LTOs) otherwise known as hyper local community groups who are working in the most deprived areas with the objective to increase activity levels in children and young people and improve their life chances. The under-representation of low-income young people in the traditional sports system such as clubs is not due to personal choice but rather, a structural inadequacy in the sports system which results in the exclusion of low-income young people. Traditional sports provision is less accessible to low-income families because of geography and sports clubs and gyms are costly and tend to market themselves to people in their own image. In addition, young people tend to prefer sociable sports which often require an organisers, kit, indoor space or marked up outdoor space. In other words, sociable sports need organisation and resources which the sports system does not supply.
Councils provide affordable sport and leisure facilities. Taking this even further, Birmingham City Council has integrated LTOs through its holiday programme, Bring it on Brum. This has had hugely positive outcomes. The holiday clubs provide healthy food and use sporting activity to make an impact on food insecurity; encourage healthy eating habits and positive behaviour. Research from Northumbria University confirmed that the Social Return on Investment (SRoI) for the health improvements associated with the Bring It On Brum! programme were £479.28 per child. For every child deterred from participating in antisocial behaviour and associated crime, they valued an approximate investment return of £928.40.
Current landscape
Councils face ongoing inflationary and pay pressures alongside spiking demand and market challenges in areas such as children’s social care and temporary accommodation. In particular, the pressure from increased demand for social care support is squeezing councils’ ability to spend on other services. Councils need a long-term, sustainable, multi-year funding settlement if they are to continue investing in these vital community services.
Meanwhile, Sport England estimates 63 per cent of main sports halls and 60 per cent of swimming pools are past their expected lifespans or overdue refurbishment and Swim England forecasting a 40 per cent reduction in the number of public pools available. As a result the public leisure estate is not energy efficient and currently accounts for between 10 to 40 per cent of a council’s direct carbon emissions.
Having a comprehensive leisure offer is crucial to deliver on statutory functions, 72 per cent of primary schools rely on publicly provided pools to deliver their statutory responsibility for children to learn to swim and life saving skills in water safety. As well as to be able to meet growing demand in ways that work for different demographics. For example the latest Active Lives survey for children and young people (2021/22) shows an increase in gym and fitness activity in children aged five to 11 and a steady upward trend in young people aged 11 -16 doing gym and fitness classes. Active play (62 per cent), team sports (58 per cent) and active travel (57 per cent) were the most common activities across all children and young people, demonstrating the importance of a mix of options for children and young people to access to be active.
Fair and sustainable funding is crucial for maintaining consistency, reliability and quality in these essential services. It enables councils to plan and deliver essential public services beyond the short term, to raise more funds locally and to promote greater collective working across local public services.
Get Active
‘Get Active’, the new Government Sport Strategy sets out ambitious targets of getting over 2.5 million more adults and one million more children active by 2030. The network of over 3,000 council facilities will be crucial to making this happen, particularly given their engagement with the population groups that the strategy identifies will benefit most from increasing activity levels – including one million more active children and young people.
Contact
Zahraa Shaikh
Public Affairs Support Officer:
Phone: 020 3838 4861
Mobile: 07591353623
Email: [email protected]