Stoke-on-trent sport and physical activity strategy 2009-2016

Sports Specific FacilitiesIntroduction178. The assessment of other sports facilities differs from the main facilities of;swimming pools, sports halls, and synthetic turf pitches. This is mainly becausethere is less sophisticated modelling available for these facility types.179. As with the pools, halls and STPs, the background research has included areview of National Governing Body Strategies and Whole Sport Plans. However,the information available from the NGBs varies enormously as some sports havedetailed facilities strategies, setting out aspirations for the provision of specificfacility types, while others have no relevant plans or other documents. Theassessment process follows largely the same pattern as for the major facilities,including:• community and stakeholder consultation;• mapping, audit and quality assessment of each facility;• quantitative assessment (provision per 1000 on authority wide basis);• the Nortoft Calculator;• facility mapping;• Active Places Power (provision per 1000 within the authority, comparatorauthority provision, ‘personal share’, travel times);• 2012 pre-games training camp proposals;• Market segmentation;• Active People Survey findings (see Section 1).180. As the Facilities Planning Model (FPM) is only available for swimming pools andsports halls, other sports need to be assessed by different methods, such as theNortoft Calculator.181. The financial challenges of providing proposed new facilities are significant inthemselves, so a degree of opportunism is also needed, where for examplefunding for schools can provide for new facilities, and dual-use provision makessense. There is also a strong commercial sector in <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent, and it isimportant to support this, whilst retaining a balance with the more accessible(especially from a cost perspective) pay and play public sector facilities.182. The continual maintenance and regular refurbishment of the public sectorfacilities is crucial to the long term ability of <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent to meet the demandfor sport and active recreation. As it is impossible to assess the costs andrequirements for each facility at this level, it has been assumed that sufficientNortoft Partnerships Ltd <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent Page | 168Sport & Physical Activity Strategy 2009-2016October 2009