The Isle of Wight Council is set to help more local people get into sport thanks to £250,000 of National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Community Sport Activation Fund.
The Isle of Wight Council put forward a funding bid to build on the work it carries out to promote sports and fitness across the Island. The council’s bid was successful and among just 88 projects to receive a share of £15 million of funding to support grassroots sport activity across the country.
The council will use the funds to run a wide range of community sports and physical activity sessions designed to encourage people of all ages to get active. The funding will also be used to expand the range of after school sports activities for young people.
Councillor Shirley Smart, Executive member for economy and tourism, said:
“We are absolutely delighted to receive funding from the Community Sport Activation Fund. It will allow us to develop our sports provision to include a wider range of activities around the Island – hopefully motivating people to get into sport and get them coming back for more.”
Designed in response to local demand, the Community Sport Activation Fund allows local authorities, charities and other organisations to apply for funding for innovative projects that will get more people playing sport.
Mike Diaper, Sport England Director of Community Sport, said:
“It’s great to be working with innovative projects, like the one on the Isle of Wight to offer people the chance to get into sport in a way that best suits them.
Article continues below this advertisement “The investment being made through the Community Sport Activation Fund is making a real difference at a very local level. I’m particularly pleased that more than half the funding is going into projects in deprived areas, helping more people develop a lifelong sporting habit.”
The Community Sport Activation Fund is investing a total of £47.5 million of funding over five funding rounds. Already 156 projects have shared in £27.2 million of funding over three rounds, receiving grants of between £50,000 and £250,000 to provide grassroots sport at a very local level.
