The Partnership Area - Strategic Plan - LIVING SPORT

The Partnership Area

The area is made up of the unitary city of Peterborough, the county of Cambridgeshire, with Cambridge City and East Cambridgeshire, Fenland, Huntingdonshire and South Cambridgeshire Districts, with Sports Development staff in each.  There are currently two Primary Care Trusts – Peterborough NHS and Cambridgeshire NHS with a strong interest in physical activity within the Obesity and Healthy Weight agendas.

Significant population growth is expected across the area with planned development of the Northstowe new town and developments around Cambridge.  The most diverse populations are found in the cities of Cambridge and Peterborough; however, there are large traveller and migrant worker populations across rural Cambridgeshire.

Cambridgeshire as a whole is an affluent county within the least deprived 20% of authorities in the country but within the county there is considerable variation which leads to health inequalities.  On the Index of Multiple Deprivation Peterborough ranks 90th most deprived out of 354 local authority areas.

There is a strong tradition of school sport in the partnership area, with four District School Sports Associations, five School Sports Partnerships and seven Sports Colleges.  Sports facilities provision is largely focussed on School sites, the Community and Village Colleges, managed by the District Councils in Huntingdonshire and Fenland, but independently across South Cambridgeshire.  Facilities in Peterborough have recently transferred to the Vivacity culture and Leisure Trust; in East Cambridgeshire there are eight small Trusts; whilst in Cambridge there is mixed provision including a management contract with SLM Property Management Ltd.

Professional sport is limited to Peterborough United Football Club competing in the Championship and Cambridge RFUC, Peterborough Phantoms Ice Hockey and Peterborough Panthers Speedway participating at national league level.  There is a better record of senior level participation in some of the smaller sports, such as Cambridge Volleyball, Korfball and Handball, and there are a number of individual World and Olympic level athletes from the partnership area.

A lot of sport is delivered by volunteers through Sports Clubs and Associations.  The nature of these Clubs varies enormously with some established as companies and charities which have a range of disciplines (e.g. track and field, road running) and sections (e.g. juniors and veterans).  Many compete at a regional and national level whilst small clubs cater for a very local community or are simply recreational in approach.  An increasing number of sports have developed activities specifically to attract new audiences, such as tag and touch rugby and Twenty20 cricket.  There are a range of County Associations and County and Local Area Partnerships, Development Groups and Networks, such as the County Golf Partnership and the Greater Cambridge Athletics Network.  A pragmatic approach is taken to supporting individuals and organisations on the geographic periphery of the partnership area, with LIVING SPORT working closely with other County Sports Partnerships, especially those in the East.

There are also a broad range of commercial operators, those which are facility based such as Next Generation and Esporta attracting a mainly adult audience, and companies delivering sporting opportunities particularly for young people, including after school activities on school sites and holiday programmes, for example Barracudas.  An increasing number are starting to focus on adult participation such as Park Run.

In summary, the organisation and delivery of sport is complex.  A key role for LIVING SPORT is to interpret this for our partners and ensure there are clear signposts for people who wish to take part in sport, as well as in broader physical activity, leisure and recreation and for health and wellbeing.

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