Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab):...I am not saying
that there is no investment. Since 2000, the Football Foundation,
funded by the FA, the Premier League and Sport England, has
invested more than £600 million in projects. My constituency
has recently benefited from such investment, with fantastic
facilities at the Vauxhall Sports and Social Club, where two new
fourth generation pitches, which I occasionally grace, have been
opened alongside a fantastic new clubhouse....Request free trial
(Ellesmere Port and Neston)
(Lab):...I am not saying that there is no investment.
Since 2000, the Football Foundation, funded by the FA, the Premier
League and Sport England, has invested more than £600 million
in projects. My constituency has recently benefited from such
investment, with fantastic facilities at the Vauxhall Sports and
Social Club, where two new fourth generation pitches, which I
occasionally grace, have been opened alongside a fantastic new
clubhouse. About half the money for that came from the Premier
League and the FA facilities fund, but the other half had to be
raised locally, and I pay tribute to the incredible work done by
Dave Edmunds and Tony Woodley, in particular, who really fought to
get those facilities off the ground...
(Mansfield) (Con):...I
am sorry to interrupt the Minister. I recognise that the job of
Sports Minister often tends to be to drag different Departments
together to manage things more effectively and to find funding. Can
more be done within her brief to bring together such bodies as
Sport England with governing bodies? Sport England’s remit these
days is more focused on grassroots activity and the community. Are
there opportunities not only to invest in football, but to work
with Sport England to invest in brilliant community facilities,
too?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Mims Davies):...How are
we doing that? We are working with our partner, Sport England,
which is working on behalf of the Government to create new local
football facility plans for every local authority in England. Over
the next 12 months, we will know exactly the best places to invest
in football on a supply and demand basis. That will include further
artificial and grass pitches, school mini pitches and Parklife
hubs—a new programme aimed at developing a sustainable model for
supporting local football facilities. Some hon. Members may have
visited the hub sites in Sheffield and London, with
state-of-the-art artificial grass pitches available to people of
all ages and abilities. We hope to deliver increases in football
participation in every city. New hubs are on the horizon: hubs in
Liverpool and, close to my constituency, in Southampton will open
this year, with further cities in the pipeline...
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