Q17 – Sustainable Growth Strategy

Infrastructure requirements should be widened to include social infrastructure such as schools and outdoor/indoor spaces for sport and physical activity


Q18 – Sustainable Communities

Sport England supports this policy, which seeks to increase opportunities for healthy and active lifestyles.
Sport England, in conjunction with Public Health England, has produced ‘Active Design’ (October 2015), a guide to planning new developments that create the right environment to help people get more active, more often in the interests of health and wellbeing. The guidance sets out ten key principles for ensuring new developments incorporate opportunities for people to take part in sport and physical activity. The Active Design principles are aimed at contributing towards the Government’s desire for the planning system to promote healthy communities through good urban design. Sport England would commend the use of the guidance in the master planning process for new residential developments. The document can be downloaded via the following link: https://www.sportengland.org/how-we-can-help/facilities-and-planning/design-and-cost-guidance/active-design
Sport England would support referencing Active Design in the supporting text for this policy, as the guidance will assist in the development of sustainable communities to make increased opportunities for sport and physical activity.

Q23 – Strategic Infrastructure

Sport England supports this policy as it seeks to make significant improvements to the cycling and walking network, to encourage more people to cycle and walk to work, or for leisure, and the development of a multi-functional green infrastructure network.

With regard to increase in school capacity, this should not be at the expense of existing outdoor spaces for sport (e.g. playing fields, games courts). Sport England have a statutory remit to protect existing playing fields and we will object to schemes that result in a loss of playing fields without meeting any of the exceptions identified in our adopted policy of Para 97 of the NPPF.