After years of banging on Minister’s doors, trying to get sports facilities re-opened to communities across Mansfield, we had some brilliant news last week!
£57 million of funding has been allocated by Government to support schools and local authorities in getting their sports facilities up and running at evenings and weekends, no longer locked up behind school gates, and instead providing untold benefits to local communities.
This announcement was on top of the Government’s pledge to boost sport activities both inside and outside of school hours, including renewing their commitment to the School Sports Premium, with funding of £600m over the next two years – all ensuring pupils have more access to sport across the country.
I’m constantly shouting about the benefits of sport in our schools. It’s not just about health and wellbeing – although massively important – it’s also about creating opportunities for kids to learn team-building skills, overcome obstacles and build their resilience up to setbacks before going out into the wider world.
Half the country’s tax-payer funded sports facilities at our schools are locked up outside of school hours, with the most disadvantaged communities often also having the lowest levels of access to sports fields, pitches and courts.
It was only a few weeks ago I wrote in this paper about the same issue, after holding an Adjournment Debate in Parliament, where I was able to express my concerns to the Minister and have colleagues also share their views.
I called on Government to act on this and make it absolutely clear to schools and local authorities that they all have a part to play in ensuring tax-payer funded facilities are open and available to those who pay for them.
Of course, it’s often not the fault of schools, who rightly have to prioritise funding on providing a good education for their students over extracurricular activities, so it’s extremely welcome to see the government stepping up, as I have argued for, and investing serious amounts of money to support school sports halls and pitches to open up 7 days a week
I was also pleased to see a commitment to ensuring that girls have equal access to extracurricular sporting activities, boosting girls access to football in particular off the back of the Lionesses victory last year. It’s amazing really that many places still only offer football to boys and netball, for example, to girls. It’s the 21st century! Meden School did a great job last week, with 130 girls out playing football on International Women’s Day. Well done to them!
This week I’m meeting with the Trist responsible for Manor Sports Centre again to continue to try to find ways to get this vital community hub opened back up to the wider area, and hopefully we’ll be able to draw a connection between this funding and achieving that.
It’s absolutely brilliant to be able to report back to my constituents and say that all my years of campaigning on this issue is paying off, with £57m in a pot now to try and make a difference.
I hope that this funding will be the first step in a longer journey, which will see places like Mansfield benefit hugely from in the years to come.
