Chapter 12 Case Study: Community Investment Fund and The South West

The CIF can be examined with reference to one particular case, that of the South West of England Region. In 2004 each of the nine regions of Sport England produced a Regional Plan for Sport, to be supported by lottery funding. Decisions on funding are made by each Regional Sport Board (RSB). The funding varies between each Region, but for the South West was approximately £14 million to be distributed between 2005 and 2009. Regional plans are the link between the broader business objectives and vision of Sport England, and the local context within which such objectives are to be met.

The South West Context
The South West is the largest of the nine sporting regions in terms of geographical size. It has a number of features that are relevant to the planning, funding and provision of sport development opportunities. It has high levels of population growth, a high proportion of people aged 65 and over, and a substantial amount of hidden deprivation, especially within rural areas. Average earnings in parts of the Region, for example Cornwall, are amongst the lowest in the UK, with an average GDP per person considerably lower than the UK average (Cornwall Sport Action Zone, 2001)

The main aims of the Regional Plan were:

• To increase participation rates to 50% by 2020
• To improve performance by increasing representation at national and international levels
• To bring together a diverse range of partners to create a more active and community focused South West (Sport England South West 2005)

Four strategic themes have been identified for the region. These are:
1. Delivering community sport
2. Delivering active living
3. Influencing strategic planning
4. Raising sport’s profile

One of the aims of regional plans is that they take into account the local context within which sport development takes place. This will obviously vary from region to region, but there may be particular issues facing some regions. In the case of the South West, these issues, and their implications have been identified in table 1.

Table 1. Regional Issues affecting Community Investment Funding in the South West

As noted earlier, a total of £14m was available for allocation between 2005 and 2009. The vast majority (£10m) was scheduled to be spent over the first two years of the five year plan (priority spend), with the remaining £4m to be spent over the remaining three years. The funding is planned as shown in Table 2. Priority is given to those projects that are deemed to make the greatest contribution to the priorities of the region, as highlighted in Table 1. Those applications which, although laudable in themselves, do not contribute to the priorities of the region will not receive funding. Hence, it is important for all applications to refer to the issues raised in Table 1.

Table 2. Sport England Funding for the South West

Critical Success Factors
Three critical success factors have been identified as essential to the delivery of the objectives set out within the strategic plan, and thus funding needs to address
1. Systems (people). This includes the setting up of sub regional partnerships, and to increase the size of coaching and community volunteer networks.
2. Capacity (performance). Leadership training and assessment agendas are the key priority for this CSF.
3. Resources (places). The creation of locally available free play space is the key success factor here.

Again, applications need to relate specifically to those CSF’s identified within the Regional Plan. Thus, a bid which fails to identify, for example, how it will address the CSF of people, and having the right people with the right skills to implement the plans outlined in the bid will have an extremely limited chance of success.

The Hub and Satellite Concept
One important regional issue was the prevalence of sports clubs focused on a single use. As a consequence, many sports clubs in the South West simply lack a critical mass in terms of facilities, members, expertise and volunteers. Hence, funding was prioritised for schemes that encouraged or developed hub sites. Hubs sites consist of a central site or resource, such as a sports club, school, university or sports centre. The hub will have space and facilities, such as those for indoor sports, informal sport spaces, spaces and resources for coaching, and social facilities. Multi agency sites will have additional resources such as GP practices and libraries. The Hub will be used by a number of satellite clubs that, on their own, would lack the resources for such facilities. Drew (2004) outlines the advantages of multi sports clubs: These include:

• The opportunity to play more than one sport;
• More potential volunteers to coach and develop sport;
• Stronger sections to help fund weaker section
• Provision of shared facilities which otherwise may not be viable
• Sports participation can be less seasonal;
• Better social facilities,

Drew also highlights the need for effective management and strong leadership to ensure the effectiveness of the structure, and the need for all partners within the club to be working towards a common goal. A number of potential disadvantages are inherent within the overall concept, however, for example

• Friction between sports, especially if there are limited facilities
• Siting of facilities may be problematic, for example a rugby pitch overlapping a cricket pitch
• Smaller clubs may be taken over by bigger, more established clubs, and lose their own identity (Drew, 2004).

By 2020, Sport England have proposed that a total of 114 Hub and Satellite Clubs be created based on a target of 3 clubs for each of the 38 population centres in the region (Sport England South West 2005), of which 50 will be supported with funding from Sport England itself.

Questions
1. What are the key constraints that are likely to impact upon the aims of the Regional Plan? Will the proposed plan overcome these constraints, or are there any other areas that require additional funding?
2. What are the key issues involved in moving from a model of single use sport clubs to the use of Hub and Satellite facilities? How may funding be used to overcome these constraints? Are there any potential strategic alliances that may be useful to support the strategy?
3. What are the risks involved in the Regional Plan? Are there any measures that need to be implemented to ensure that these risks are minimised?
4. The South West will be hosting the sailing events at the 2012 Olympics. How could this be integrated within the Sport Development strategy for the Region?

References
Cornwall Sport Action Zone (2001) Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Sport Action Zone Needs Assessment
Drew, M. (2004). Club development in the South West: Multi Sport Club Models. Sport England South West
Sport England South West (2005). Supporting the Development of Multi Sport Environment in the South West: The ‘Hub and Satelllite” Concept. Regional Plan Bulletin No.4.