Councils keeping flame of Olympic sporting legacy alive, says LGA

15 Aug 16

Councils helped create a lasting Olympic legacy that is transforming grassroots sports, according to a survey published today by the Local Government Association.

With the Rio games well underway, data collected from 16 councils showed a spike in sports including diving, cycling and running.

Ian Stephens, chair of LGA’s culture, tourism and sport board, said councils have been at the forefront of ensuring that the feel-good factor from the games “translated into a tangible and lasting transformation of grassroots sports and participation”.

Plymouth, for example, has seen a surge in diving. After serving as the training ground for Olympic diver Tom Daley, who won bronze at the 2012 games, the council built a £46.6m leisure centre housing a competition swimming pool, multiple diving boards and video playback facilities.

St Albans council invested in three new leisure centres, and as a result sports activity rose by almost 50% in the three years after the games.

Both Liverpool and St Helens both run sporting events – a mini Olympic games to be held this summer and an annual multi-sport festival respectively.

Meanwhile Braintree, in partnership with Essex and some London boroughs, hosted the third stage of the 2014 Tour de France, attracting 250,000 spectators and boosting the local economy by £400,000.

Under Suffolk’s Get Healthy Get Active initiative, over 3,500 inactive people have taken up community sport. The LGA said the council has also been instrumental in attracting Tour of Britain and the Women’s Tour road cycling events and organising the Great East Swim – an open swimming event. Altogether, these have generated over £6m for the local economy.

“The scale of enthusiasm and wide variety of sports that people of all abilities are getting involved in is really inspiring,” said Stephens.

“Councils have played a key role in the 2012 legacy as it’s their services people often rely on as they find private facilities prohibitively expensive.”

He urged sports governing bodies, councils, local sports clubs and community groups to keep working together to maintain the enthusiasm and “make getting involved in sport as easy as possible for communities everywhere”.

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