A sporting chance

The use of sport as a means of bringing hope back to the communities. Polly Farman reports.

The term ‘regeneration’ can be interpreted in various ways. The traditional definition connects it more with economic and physical, environmental improvements, but recently more emphasis has been placed on the social and community aspects of regeneration. The latter association has become more common as the Government strives in its battle against social exclusion. As Tony Blair re-iterated in his speech at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) earlier this year: “About 2.5 per cent of every generation seem to be stuck in a life-time of disadvantage and amongst them are the excluded of the excluded, the deeply excluded. Their poverty is not just about poverty of income, but poverty of aspiration, of opportunity, of prospects of advancement.”

Increasingly, the word regeneration is being linked with social inclusion, specifically the reintegration of those groups of people that have, through lack of education and employment, become excluded from society and often driven towards crime and anti-social behaviour as a result; to use another Blairism, those individuals, often younger people, that have fallen prey to the ‘cycle of disadvantage’ that social exclusion engenders. Resultantly, all councils are being encouraged to adopt the more inclusive term ‘culture’ rather than ‘leisure’ in the planning of future initiatives, with sport now taking pole position as a catalyst for the regeneration of communities.

In addition to significant economic, commercial and social benefit both locally and nationally, sporting activities and events have catalysed long-term gains when used as a lever for the wider regeneration of an area. Euro 96, for example, was in economic terms the most successful sports event ever to be held in England. In total over 280,000 visiting spectators and media came to the UK to attend Euro 96 matches, spending approximately £120m in the eight host cities and surrounding regions. Besides this, thousands of jobs were created and the tournament prompted a renewed vigour for sport amongst Britain’s young. As was pointed out in 1999 by Trevor Brooking, former chair of Sport England, a leading organisation committed to the promotion of and investment in sport as a social tool: “Sport has the ability to overcome social barriers and empower individuals. It can help to reduce social exclusion, promote lifelong learning, and provide opportunities for engagement in community life.”

Regardless of this sentiment, outlined in detail in Sport England’s 1999 manifesto Best Value through Sport, it has taken many years for council leaders and chief executives of local authorities (LAs) alike to realise the potential regenerative values of sport and look past it simply as a pastime. In the same vein Tony Banks, then minister for sport, said at the time: “It (sport) has suffered from a lack of recognition from community developers who, perhaps, have seen it more as an optional extra than as a viable tool for regeneration. It is our job to get across just how sport can contribute to the community.”

A true statement made more surprising given that the results of a 1997 survey showed that, in an average four week period, one million people in England made in total two-and-a-half million visits to LA sports halls and similarly, during the same period, one-and-a-half million people made almost four-and-a-half million visits to LA swimming pools. Sport England has since worked tirelessly with various LAs across the country to ensure the benefits of sport can reach all sections of society and consequently help to overcome the inequalities associated with gender, ethnicity, disability and social class that pervade too many communities. This has now been formally recognised by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) which clearly states in its 2006 white paper, Strong and Prosperous Communities: “Participation in cultural and sporting activities improves skills and confidence, enhances social networks and strengthens social cohesion, and has positive impacts on health. These benefits are particularly marked amongst young people, ethnic minority groups and the disabled…We think therefore it makes sense for city-regions to work with the national and regional Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) Sport England to make the most of this opportunity.”

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), together with the National Lottery distributing bodies, have committed over £1 billion to the development of sports facilities and schemes, including the new Wembley Stadium, which alone will create an additional 8,100 jobs offering long-term employment to local people and housing for 8,500 people, 40 per cent of which will be affordable. Born of the realisation that providing adequate sports facilities for people at neighbourhood level can provide a focal point for the community and help to foster better community relations, the Phoenix Centre in the London Borough of Sutton is another shining example of this in practice.

Costing a total of £6.1 million, £1.5 million of which was invested by Sport England using lottery funding, the resources available at the community centre are designed to promote healthier lifestyles and improved well-being, increased participation in learning opportunities and a decrease in crime and the fear of crime. Amongst other things, the centre, which was selected this year as a finalist in the Municipal Journal’s Local Government Achievement Awards in the Regeneration Achievement of the Year category, incorporates a state-of-the-art gym, a library, and the ubiquitous one-stop-shop for council services. Considering there are now 360 members of the youth centre, three times the number that the old youth centre attracted, gym membership has exceeded expectations, and the new library has 700 users a day compared with the 25-40 users per day who visited the old Roundshaw Library, the success of this project is self evident.

Sutton is also an active participant in the Positive Futures scheme, a sports-based inclusion project, initiated in 2000 by the Home Office and now led by Crime Concern together with Sport England, which uses sport to encourage 10-19-year-olds away from crime and anti-social behaviour. The Youth Justice Board (YJB) has identified sport as a ‘protective factor’ that can reduce the rate of criminal offending among youths; its research has shown that arrest rates among people considered most at risk of offending went down by 65 per cent after engagement with projects, 30 per cent of which were sports projects. Active in all of the 30 areas of the country identified as being most affected by drug related crime, Positive Futures projects are providing the nation’s youth with an alternative to loitering and boredom whilst supplying prospective offenders with information on drug related issues, preventative measures, and valuable support networks.

Community regeneration is about promoting the social, economic and environmental well-being of an area. The current problems impacting on people and their communities are multifaceted and the solutions to these problems are not to be foundnin fragmented and bureaucratically defined approaches. A holistic approach is required and, as is evident, sport has the power to lead the way and promote the joined-up ways of working which have a positive impact on lives and communities. LAs in particular have been at the vanguard of many of these developments and have a pivotal role to play, but there is still more work to do if the benefits that sport can bring to healthier living, regeneration, social inclusion and other key objectives are to be maximised.