Advance copy of Ben Bradley's speech on reopening of school sport facilities (adjournment debate)

End of business adjournment debate (7pm) on Reopening of school sport facilities (Ben Bradley)

Advance copy of Ben Bradley's speech (under embargo). 

Thank you Mr Speaker

It’s a pleasure to bring this issue to the floor of the House and be able to discuss opportunities to open up school sports facilities to the wider community. It’s an issue that is close to my heart, as a self-confessed sports fanatic, a hockey coach, occasional football referee, parent of kids involved in grassroots football, and as someone whose original ambition was to be a PE teacher... I cannot overstate how important I think sport, and particularly grassroots and community sport, is to our physical and mental health, to the development and growth of our young people, to our social fabric and our general wellbeing.

This role sport plays, the value of it, in the education and development of the next generation has always been undervalued by governments of all stripes. While the health benefits of physical activity are obvious, sport also plays a major role in academic achievement and careers. Dundee University (Link) have shown an increase in academic performance by students who participated in more exercise than their peers. If I wanted to get technical I could even talk about how other studies have shown regular exercise for children leads to better levels of concentration, or memory (Link). But the real point is, sport adds value across the board when it comes to developing young people.

We also know that sport doesn’t only help develop the academic potential of a young person, sport, particularly team games, help encourage the social development of our young people and often provide that first instance of teamwork for many kids. All of us who have played sport also know about the highs and lows it can bring and the character building that comes from these experiences. The determination, competitive spirit, overcoming challenges… These experiences help to make our young people more resilient, and better able to deal with the highs and lows of life.

The most disadvantaged communities also tend to be the least active, and also tend to have less access to great sports facilities. It’s a levelling up mission too, Mr Speaker, and it’s really important. 

So that said, we need to help more people to access it. There’s lots to this Mr Speaker, and I could bang on forever. We had a debate on school and community sports in this place recently, and I don’t intend to repeat it all, but I’d flag again with the Minister that both the PE and School Sport Premium, and also the DHSC funding for School Games Organisers, both need confirming as soon as possible. 

This evening though I want to focus on school facilities. One way to increase access to sports facilities across the country would be ensuring schools are able to open their sports facilities for public use. We’re investing in new sports centres, I’ve seen lots of Levelling Up Funds and other funds come forward for new facilities, including Warsop Leisure and Health Centre with is really positive, and means that thanks to this Government we will finally replace the old, dilapidated Leisure Centre that the Mansfield Independent-led Council closed around four years ago… that’s great. But I look across the road from the leisure centre, and I see a school sports field, I see a MUGA and basketball court, I see tennis courts, countless football pitches. School sports facilities. It’s fortunate in Warsop that some of these are open to the wider community, only some, not all… but when I first came here to Parliament five years ago Mr Speaker, I was shocked to find that the general public are not able to access 45% of the sports facilities in state-funded schools – almost half - have no public access. I’d be willing to bet big money that the proportion is even higher than that now as I can think of multiple large secondary schools even just near me that have removed that access as a result of Covid, which reduced the commercial viability of some of these leisure facilities and made them a drain on school budgets. 

I’ll give you an example, at Manor Academy in Mansfield Woodhouse, post-Covid, the school closed the Sports Centre for community use. It’s understandable, I’m not going to point fingers at the school or Trust, because I understand why they would feel that they should direct their funds towards the academics and the students and they shouldn’t be subsidising community leisure provision. I sympathise with that… so I’m not here to assign blame.

However, we’re 18 months on now, and still multiple football pitches, a hockey pitch, indoor sports hall and other facilities remain inaccessible. The hockey club, in particular, remain effectively homeless as there are no other suitable hockey pitches in the whole of Mansfield. Only this one, that is currently left unused. I’ve been trying to broker a solution, between Councils and the Academy Trust, North Notts Hockey Club, but it’s been a long hard slog. I’m hopeful that when we meet again in a few weeks time we’ll have a solution to take forward and maybe get the hockey club back on the pitch next season, which would be positive - but it shouldn’t be that difficult!
This is a prime example though, Mr Speaker, of how arguably the best sports facilities in the Woodhouse area, that supported countless grass roots clubs with facilities, are there, visible, but not available. Meanwhile, we’re short of hockey pitches - we don’t have any - short of rugby pitches, on football pitches all the major venues are full and across the area – across the whole County in fact – I get grassroots clubs coming to me all the time seeking more capacity. It’s indicative of the fact that sport is very rarely the top priority for any of these organisations – schools, councils, Government – and therefore this never makes it to the top of the to do list. That’s something I’m trying to shift within my own organisation, and I’m asking the Minister to try and shift it here.

This example at Manor represents a missed opportunity to significantly boost our grassroots sports, to meet some of that need, and obviously to access all the positive implications this has for the community, such as improved physical and mental health. In many cases, facilities already exist. Surely, common sense would dictate, that it would be quicker and cheaper to simply open up existing facilities than to build new ones in many cases. A small amount of infrastructure in terms of admin support for bookings would be enough at some sites, at others advice on managing liability and insurance, wading through the bureaucracy, would allow clubs to take on management of facilities on the weekends. At some, you might need a small amount of capital funding for a portacabin for some changing rooms that can be available out of hours, or you might need to sort out the gates and access arrangements. These things are not unachievable.

It’s also the case that where clubs can have some certainty for the long term, they can attract in the funding for improvements from existing routes, like Sport England, like the Football Foundation, or the County Council’s Local Community Fund. Some of this could be managed locally, I’d volunteer my own Council to manage it or pilot that administration if we could access the funds to ensure we’ve got the extra staff capacity. It doesn’t need Government to do it, in that sense. However, where it does need Government’s help, is to set this clear direction of travel. To offer the capacity to get started – a bit of up front support with the proviso that this needs to be self-sustaining in the long term – and I’m convinced that over time, with an initial outlay on making facilities fit for purpose and getting organised, in many cases it would be self-funding, with efficient District or Countywide management. It needs support to get going. Given that it is a levelling up outcome, as I’ve said, with disadvantaged communities often having least access, perhaps where Levelling Up Funds are likely to be returned, perhaps, in coming months, as rising costs make projects unviable, perhaps some of that could be repurposed to help with this. 

Second, Government needs to be absolutely clear that they expect everyone to facilitate this, and be permissive when it comes to navigating the bureaucracy. The biggest barrier is ‘the system’ – the perceived safeguarding implications for schools (even on a weekend when nobody is there), legal teams stressing about insurance and liability, local planners rejecting permissions to use sites during different hours, and though some schools are keen to help, others see this as just not their job, don’t have capacity or just won’t help to get it going. It requires lots of partners to pull together, and as a result, it can feel impossible. It shouldn’t take two years to sort a solution for Manor Sports Centre. Government needs to be absolutely clear, and demand that taxpayer funded facilities will be available for taxpayers to use, and demand that partners and stakeholders should be facilitating that use, not putting barriers in the way of that.

I have heard about an Opening School Facilities Programme, however I cannot point to a practical example of where this has happened, I wonder if the Minister can tell me? I’ve heard of pilot schemes to try and facilitate the administration and bookings as I’ve described, but again I’ve heard no outcome, no next steps from this. If Ministers want to help my Council with some initial capacity, I’ll happily work with Government to get this up and running in Notts and prove the case. Officials will no doubt say there needs to be some open process or whatever, but I’m stood here volunteering. If someone needs to pick up a next step and give it a go, tell me what it is, and I’ll work with the Department to take it forward.

I hope the Minister can perhaps update me on these programmes and what is happening, particularly in light of the new Sports Strategy that’s coming forward, which I understand will include plans on accessing facilities. What is the next step in making this happen, and ensuring that the sports facilities in our communities are not mothballed, seen but not available for use? How can I take that forward and ensure that Mansfield residents have full access to all the wonderful community spaces that exist, instead of them being locked away?