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Sports facilities 'being built too slowly' to meet demand after 2012
Matthew Beard, Olympics Editor4 Aug 2009
A lack of new sports facilities in London could undermine pledges to use the 2012 Olympics to promote healthier lifestyles, a report warns.
A survey has found that the number of sports centres being opened or refurbished across the capital has slowed over the last two years, largely due to the recession.
Researchers said there was a "rather disappointing absence" of an "Olympic effect", despite a burst of activity following the decision in July 2005 to award the Games to London.
The research, by property firm Drivers Jonas, found 61 sports facilities were opened or refurbished in 2007 and last year - the same number as in the 18 months after July 2005.
There has also been a slowdown in the number of planned schemes, from 36 to 21.
Report author Geoff Aucock said the Games were expected to provoke a rush among Londoners to become more active. This meant facilities - private and council-run - had to be improved to ensure there was capacity to meet demand after 2012.
"It will be like trying to find a tennis court in the fortnight after Wimbledon - everybody wants one," said Mr Aucock. "Keeping things going after 2012 will be the issue.
"Recently the Government has moved from developing new facilities, in the knowledge that this in itself is unlikely to increase participation, to trying to subsidise the use of facilities for children and pensioners."
Councils rely on private developers to donate money for sports facilities in return for planning permission. However, there has been a huge fall in applications due to the property crash.
The Government aims to get an extra two million British adults exercising regularly by 2012. Meanwhile, one of the London bid's five core promises was to make the UK "world-class" in terms of medals and wider sports participation. But the report said meeting the targets was a "tough challenge".
The capital has higher participation than the rest of the country, but increasing the level is proving difficult. Last week, the London Health Observatory reported that only just over a quarter of Londoners exercised for up to three hours a week. The recommended amount for adults is 30 minutes at least five days a week.
The Central Council for Physical Recreation, which campaigns for sports facilities, said it would be "tragic" to miss the opportunity of 2012. Chief executive Tim Lamb said: "There's no point in showcasing the greatest athletes, encouraging millions to watch them compete, if you then leave with nothing tangible to show for it.
"Unless sporting facilities are built and ready to welcome the thousands of people organisers hope to inspire by the Olympics, we will lose a generation to inactivity. Evidence shows that if a sporting facility is built, it is used."
Drivers Jonas found some councils were failing to keep pace with the need for new facilities.
Hounslow topped the table for the number of new facilities - 11- in 2007 and last year, having previously had the worst record in London. All but one of its facilities were privately funded. By comparison, there were no new facilities in Brent in the same period. However, sports participation in the borough has increased since it opened the new Willesden Sports Centre, which features a pool and running track, in 2006.
Sport England, which is tasked with delivering government targets on participation, found that pilates, weight training and athletics had increased sharply in popularity, while swimming had lost ground.
A Sport England spokesman said: "High-quality, well-maintained facilities, located in the right places, lie at the heart of a world-leading community sports system. Continued investment by local government, the largest provider of community sports facilities, is more important than ever."
Reader views (5)
The Olympic Legacy needs to start now, because pools are still closing:
Dudley MBC want to close the Coseley Pool at the end of this month.
Sedgemoor District Council which tried to close the Burnham-on-Sea Pool last year, is now wanting to sell the Splash pool in Bridgwater to Tesco's
Other pools that have closed just this year include:
The Girvan Pool (South Ayshire)
St David's Pool (Pembrokeshire CC)
Byrne Avenue (Wirral)
Hoddesdon Open Air Pool (Broxbourne)
Halesworth Open Air Pool (Suffolk)
Beccles Open Air Pool (Suffolk)
The Govt's Free Swimming plan does nothing to address these issues.
- Sally Wainman, Ipswich Suffolk, 20/08/2009 11:13
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The Government urgently need to stop the closures: the Waltham Forest College Pool is again on the urgent list, despite being saved two years ago. This is a top training pool for swimmers, but both the Council and the College are claiming they don't have the funds to save it.
Boris Johnson was proudly standing next to the tiny 12 metre pool on the South Bank recently , proclaiming the importance of swimming; but that pool is due to close on August 31st as the summer holidays come to an end. It is facilities like the Waltham Forest College Pool that need the Mayor's support.
- Sally Wainman, Ipswich, 11/08/2009 00:59
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Not only are the facilities being built slowly, in some cases they are being earmarked for closure!
Now in my sport, Diving, we have a dearth of facilities, especially in the London area with only about 7 regularly available for the public to use.
The new facility at Stratford, desperately needed though it is, will not cover this lack of local facility.
But, in the eastern side of London, 2 pools that currently exist and are 40+ years old will not be replaced with pools with diving facilities when they close. This is likely to be sooner rather than later in Waltham Forest.
The reply we get is that all diving in Eastern London will be done at Stratford. So the 'Legacy' will be 1 pool to cover a population of about 5 million.
I'm already getting e-mails from people around the country following Tom Daley's success in Rome about starting diving. Sadly most of them are from [people who are nowhere near to a swimming pool with a diving board and will never have the chance to try the sport.
London clubs are already full, without new facilities and the replacement of the aged existing stock - retaining local access to the sport, we will not be able to handle anything like the demand that we will get for people to try the sport of diving.
It's already close to impossible for an adult to do it in the London area.
- John Whitby, Peterborough, cambs, 04/08/2009 17:22
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We can spend money better elsewhere on more important things right now like the army and health service.
By the way I am a sports fan and enjoy watching/playing many but in reality how many people are going to take up swimming/cycling and even more so sailing/rowing just because a group of highly motivated and well trained athletes win medals at their jobs.
They'll become role models ofcourse of how youngsters can do something good for the country but we have far more serious concerns at the moment.
- Mark, Watford, 04/08/2009 16:59
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There are plenty of ways to be 'active' and have a healthy lifestyle NOW.
Building more high priced facilities, staffing them with more overpaid govt. employees, won't make people anymore likely to drop the game controller and go high jumping instead.
- Trunk, US, 04/08/2009 15:56
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