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

232. Any opportunities provided by BSF to locate provision on school sites should befully explored. The potential co location of health services (e.g. GPs surgeries)and fitness facilities provides real opportunities to deliver joined up services tothe community at a local level.233. New (retained) fitness facilities should be considered on school sites where thereis, or is planned to be, intensive management during both the day andevenings/weekends.234. Other schools with no or limited community use may still be keen to have, ormaintain, their fitness facilities, but the school-only use is outside the scope ofthis report.Standards of provision235. The fitness world is fast changing and it is difficult to provide formal benchmarkssuitable for planning standards relating to the quantity of provision.236. Accessibility and cost are factors which influence levels of participation acrossthe City and so local pay and play or low cost facilities should be a priority andcan be influenced by planning policies. These should be in place to enable thedevelopment of new fitness facilities, with a mixture of providers and locations, torespond to the needs of the community.237. An objective should be to make health and fitness facilities available within a 15minute walk for most residents, equating to 1.2 km. This could be through afacility which is solely ‘pay and play’ or through an agreement with a commercialprovider which enables such access for a set number of hours at set times. Thiscould be established as a result of a planning condition/agreement.238. The size of the facilities to be provided will often be smaller than the purelycommercial type of fitness gym, and should be designed in relation to size andlayout to meet local community needs. It is expected that the minimum size willbe 25 stations.239. New commercial proposals should be supported, but again with a planningcondition which enshrines casual/pay and play use for local residents.Developers’ contributions240. Most future provision of health and fitness facilities by the public sector (includingschools) will be targeted at a fairly local catchment market i.e. at the Local orSatellite strategy levels. The exceptions will be where a larger fitness suitesupports a larger public sector leisure or dual-use facility, or where there isNortoft Partnerships Ltd <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent Page | 185Sport & Physical Activity Strategy 2009-2016October 2009