By Charles Randall
5 June 2013
Cricket has benefited from the latest grants announced by Sport England recently, part of a big increase in funding to protect playing fields.
A total of 27 cricket projects were selected by Sport England among 75 awards made from the Olympic Legacy Fund. Sport England disclosed there was an unprecedented number of bids from various sports organisations for a share-out of £3.5 million aid made possible by strong sales of National Lottery tickets.
Sport England support projects beyond simply clubs. For example, the Borough of Ealing in London have been awarded £50,000 to improve the drainage at the Spikes Bridge Park playing fields, enhancing the facilities for cricket in the Southall area.
Sport England said the project at Spikes Bridge was part of a wider scheme to enhance opportunities for local groups and improve sport and active recreation provision to meet the future demands of a growing population. This scheme has been used by Sport England as a case study within their 'asset transfer' tool kit. Dodleston & District Parish Council, in Cheshire, were awarded £50,000 towards combined sports facilities, with cricket benefiting.
The cricket awards ranged from £18,000 to £50,000 each to fund initiatives such as square renovation, improved drainage and levelling of outfields. The Sport England chairman Nick Bitel said the popularity of the legacy fund showed how important good local playing fields were to grassroots sport. "I’m delighted that even more communities will now benefit thanks to this extra lottery funding," he said, "but Sport England’s support for playing fields is about much more than money. Every day our experts play a vital role in protecting sports provision through the planning system."
The ECB chief executive David Collier publicly thanked Sport England for their continued support of grassroots cricket. "This additional funding will help support our wider investment of £96 million into community cricket over the next four years which was recently agreed with the ECB’s Recreational Assembly and will be implemented as part of our new national strategy Champion Counties," he said.
Among the clubs to benefit from cricket awards were Sidcup CC (£46,200 for outfield and square), Northwood CC (£25,308 to revive their square), Nuneaton CC (£49,602 for drainage of a shared sports area), Atherstone Town CC (£49,800 for changing rooms) and Bewdley CC (£50,000 to purchase land for a second ground).
In Gloucestershire, with a current lease expired and the ground under threat, Ullenwood Bharat CC will use £50,000 to secure the freehold of the cricket ground via an 'asset transfer'. This will allow the club to guarantee the future of cricket at Crickley Hill Country Park and protect the ground in perpetuity.
Over the four rounds of funding, 721 pitches and nearly 2,600 acres have been protected and improved. Minister for Sport, Hugh Robertson, said: "The Protecting Playing Fields fund is a key part of the legacy from London 2012 improving facilities up and down the country. Good pitches, that can be used all year round, are vital to sustain and encourage sports participation. This additional lottery investment will help increase opportunities for people to get involved in sport."
With all 75 playing fields protected for 25 years, 34 of them indicated they wished to become Queen Elizabeth II Fields after agreeing to dedicate their playing field in "perpetuity". This is thanks to a partnership with Fields in Trust, who arerunning the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge as part of the programme to mark the Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Helen Griffiths, chief executive of Fields in Trust, said: "Fields in Trust is delighted that so many of the award recipients will permanently protect their playing field through the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge."
"The programme has been a huge success and ensured that communities across the UK will have access to vital outdoor space for generations to come. Investment to improve spaces and increase participation is always much needed and so it is fantastic to see an increase in the funding provided by Protecting Playing Fields fund."
The next round of funding will open on the 10 June. Sport England say they will invest in projects that will create, improve and protect playing fields by:
Bringing disused playing fields back into use
Improving the condition of pitches (e.g. levelling, drainage, reseeding)
Buying new playing field land (not less than 0.2 hectares)
Buying existing playing field land where there is a known threat, such as the expiry of a lease or a development proposal.