Calls To Invest In Sports Facilities

Councillors are being told they have to spend to save money on the wellbeing of Fifers.

The local authority must save £77million within three years.

Fife has a below-average rate of exercise, which is believed to put a greater strain on other sectors such as health and social care, and can improve crime rates.

The council has a long term target that 50% of adults and 80% of children and young people do at least five half-hours of exercise a week.

Currently 37% of adults across Scotland achieve the target and 70% of children. However, in Fife we believe this to be lower with around 60% of children meeting the guidelines and only 18% being active for at least 30 minutes seven days a week.

That's lower in the Kingdom, with around 60% of children meeting the guidelines and only18% being active for at least 30 minutes seven days a week.

Cllr Mark Hood, Executive Committee Member and Chair of the Fife Sports Partnership visited the recently launched Fife Football Performance Academy to see how the council’s investment in sport from this year’s budget is already making a difference for youngsters.

He said: “Thousands of Fifers play football every week. In this current year we are making an investment of almost £3m in sport and physical activity as part of the Council’s budget. One of the projects to benefit was annual investment of £100,000 for a football performance academy to help young players develop their talent. It’s tremendous to see this academy, with over 200 of Fife’s most promising footballers, now benefitting from extra training and coaching from some of the area’s best football coaches.

And talking of the sports strategy that will be presented to next week’s Executive Committee he explained: “This proposed strategy is not owned by Fife Council. It has been developed by Fife Sports Partnership following consultation with sports clubs and will ultimately be owned by the sporting communities of Fife.

“The strategy lays out how the partnership will continue to support club development and improve the infrastructure of local sports in Fife. A recurring issue highlighted by the clubs that we had feedback from was access to facilities. We need to find better ways to support clubs access affordable space to train and play at the times that they need.

“We want everyone to have the opportunity to try out and improve their skills at new or different sports. We will help local communities to have the skills and confidence to take those forward in their own area. One way of delivering this will be through the Community Sport Hub model that is already proving successful in some areas of Fife. Sustainable sporting communities form when there is a will and drive from local people and it’s important that more communities get together to establish what they need and want in their area.

“For the first time we will also be publishing seven ‘sport specific’ strategies with the relevant national governing bodies. These will map our position and identify aims in relation to golf, football, rugby, gymnastics, swimming, cycling and bowls.

“With the council facing a £77 million funding gap over the next three years we must recognise the positive long-term impact that being physically active can have on people. It’s vital that we work across the partnership, pool resources and assist communities to establish clubs or groups to do it for themselves. It will be a real joint effort that could see vital health and social benefits for Fifers.”