SASR Norms & Standards Vol 2 new.indd - Sport and Recreation ...

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This project deals with the development of standards for sport and recreation facility planning, provision
and management in South Africa. It was commissioned by the Facilities Directorate of SRSA. The
purpose was to develop norms and standards that addressed four elements. These were provision and
management of facilities; technical specifi cations; operations and maintenance; and fi nally safety and
security. In order to develop a good understanding of the context of sport and recreation facilities, status
quo and related issues throughout the country, a consultative approach was followed where researchers
travelled to selected municipalities in all nine provinces to gather data. In addition, municipal managers
and/or planners of facilities were interviewed for their inputs. Desk top and library research was done to
develop an in depth understanding of the relevant issues, trends and techniques being utilised globally
to address the problem. Several case studies from an international and national perspective were
studied to extract best practices and relevant guiding principles.
The fi ndings revealed that planning, provision and management of facilities occurs in a fragmented
manner in municipalities. There is hardly any alignment of local approaches of facility planning and
provision to provincial and national priorities and goals. Facilities are inequitably distributed in most
areas. Most facilities are under-utilised, poorly maintained and managed. Personnel at facilities do
not have the requisite competencies to carry out their daily work. On the national government level,
it was found that there is no common defi nition of what constitutes a sport or recreation facility, no
classifi cation system for sport and recreation facilities, and no modern integrated strategy for facilities
planning, provision and management. Several facility construction projects have been observed to be
incomplete, of poor quality, not appropriately maintained, and under-utilised.
The major problems in the planning and provision of facilities arise from the lack of a strategic framework
for facilities in South Africa. Also, ad hoc and fragmented approaches to facility development are based
on short term planning which does not take into account future growth in population and demand for
quality opportunities. There is a clear lack of policies on sport and recreation facilities at national level
and in several municipalities.
The norms provide a defi nition of sport and recreation facilities, a classifi cation system to categorise
them, and local examples of such facilities. It goes on to provide the legislative framework that
regulates the planning, provision, management, maintenance and protection of the future use of
facilities. It provides an integrated, holistic approach to the problem of facilities planning and provision.
It encourages a clustered approach to the planning of new developments, rather than the traditional
stand alone development of sport facilities that have no adjacent economic activities or hubs to make