“Moving the Goalposts”

A project to build sustainable sports clubs in priority neighbourhoods within Wolverhampton

Richard Welch – Community Recreation ManagerAmy Moreton – Sports Project Co-ordinator

Streetgames Conference 2007

Strategic Context for Wolverhampton: Responding to the Corporate Agenda

Delivering the best possible outcomes for children, young people and their families

Making communities stronger and safer

Improving the health and wellbeing of our communities

Developing sustainable communities

Becoming an excellent council

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Building an inclusive service

5 stage cyclical process:

Identification of non-users Identification of barriers to

use Research and consultation Incorporating learning and

mainstreaming successful initiatives

Impact and benchmarking

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Moving the Goalposts – Background

Lack of high quality affordable structured sporting opportunities on the east side of the city

Limited number of service providers with sufficient capacity and infrastructure

Local consultation showed general lack of opportunities in priority areas

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Project Pilot Local Strategic Partnership

approved pilot project funding from Neighbourhood Renewal Fund to establish ten satellite sports clubs

£100k to pay for: 24 weeks of facility hire Delivery fees for the club Equipment for the club Training local residents to

coach Minor capital works

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How did we do this? Existing consultation carried out to produce

the Neighbourhood Management action plan identified lack of sporting activities as an issue

Research exercise to identify young people’s aspirations in sport

Audited existing facilities Invited registered clubs to express interest in

the programme Set up a monitoring panel (Sports Advisory

Council and lead member) Formulated service level agreements

How the project was managed Joint management by Sport Development Manager and

Neighbourhood Manager (Wednesfield) Arm’s length approach after 3 months Submission of performance data to Local Strategic

Partnership on quarterly basis Evaluation

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Organisations Involved

Lead Organisation- Sport Dev UnitPartner- Wednesfield Neighbourhood ManagementPartnerships Made Sport England Wolverhampton Sports Advisory Council Community Play and Youth, Social Services Governing bodies of sports Press SPORTS CLUBS!

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Results

207 young people participated 8 sports launched, 4 successful

longer term 197 accredited coaching

qualifications achieved by 165 people

2 new community sports facilities developed and 1 sport facility improved

Additional £40k secured from Sport England to establish 5 part time community sports Coach posts

Cricket – Instruction

Critical Success Factors

o Verified research findingso Service providers took a

lead responsibility o Club prepared to promote

itselfo Service providers had

sufficient capacity and capability to deliver

o Facility available on a regular basis

Athletics – High jump

Lessons Learnt

Project of its own- time consuming Claw-back mechanism Coaches need additional

training to appreciate the different issues they will experience in these communities.

Projects that were sustained, were those with clubs that managed it themselves

Lessons learnt and critical success factors fed back into city wide project

Where we are now…. Widened the project to all priority neighbourhoods Project linked into the Local Area Agreement LSP support and funding of £250k Coordinator post was created to manage the

development over a 2 year period Participants and coaches are to be tracked Target ‘very hard to reach’ through Connexions and

other partnerships Utilising the project to develop a commissioning

model for sport and physical activity as part of CSN

Where we are now…. 2006/2007 14 clubs (15 sites) awarded funding of

approximately £4800 each for 35 weeks of delivery Total distributed £73,000 Clubs were required to apply for funding Project Coordinator prepares a profile of applicants at

each stage and ranks and scores applications based on answers given in application form; CRB checks Insurance NGB/Clubmark accreditation How they will meet aims of the project Sustaining the project after 35 weeks Neighbourhood they wish to satellite to

Where we are now….

Project Coordinator puts proposals forward for successful applications and the project group approves/declines applicants

Clubs required to sign service level agreement Clubs receive payments in 2 phases- monitoring built

in- claw back mechanism Coach Education – large part of project built in 2007/2008- more clubs invited to apply for funding Continuous Improvement- lessons learnt 2006/2007

The Legacy NRF has been used as a lever to attract approximately

£40,000 of further funding to support aspects of the project so far. New Deal for Communities Sport England Youth Bank Neighbourhood Initiative Funding (West Midlands

Police) At least 21 sustainable clubs by March 2008- to keep as

many of those in place for as long as possible Number of young people accessing sporting

opportunities on a weekly basis increased Local Authority Intervention forgotten

How good is the service?Audit Commission Inspection 2005:

The project was cited as an example of good practice because……

Councillors and officers understand the contribution sport makes to all the Council’s objectives

Sport & Culture is embedded within the stated priorities of the corporate and community plans

Consultation mechanisms were at the heart of the project The project is aiming to ensure that services are

accessible to all sections of the community The project is a key delivery mechanism to give people

and communities a chance to realise their potential and allow them to develop new skills and motivation

ANY QUESTIONS??