Emerging Local Plan evidence

In collaboration with Sports England, national sports bodies, local clubs, facility owners and managers and education institutions, the Council has undertaken a detailed assessment of the borough’s playing pitches, outdoor and indoor sports facilities and their use.

The purpose of the study is to support resident’s health and wellbeing, inform the next local plan and future investment plans by the council and other facility owners.

The study is in two parts:

• the Playing Pitches' and Outdoor Facilities Study
• the Indoor Sports Facilities Study. The study follows the Sports England guidance.

Playing pitches and outdoor facilities study

Playing pitches

The playing pitches' element of the study looked in detail at the quality and use of existing playing pitches, courts and changing rooms.

Among the facilities we have assessed are 163 pitches used by football, rugby, hockey, cricket and lacrosse and 93 courts used for tennis, netball, lawn bowls and croquet

Informal outdoor facilities needs

Informal outdoor facilities needs element adopted a similar approach to the playing pitches' study and looked at 57 children’s playgrounds, 16 ball courts and multi-use games areas (MUGAs), five skate and BMX parks, 8 outdoor gyms and one athletics track.

Indoor sports facilities study

For indoor facilities, the study assessed sports halls, swimming pools, health and fitness facilities, squash courts, indoor tennis, indoor bowls, indoor netball, gymnastic facilities and village and community halls.

Outcomes

Working with national sports bodies, our own Green Spaces, Sports Development, Planning and Place Delivery teams, Surrey County Council, Horley Town Council, Reigate and Banstead Sports Federation and 36 clubs representing 406 pitch sport teams, we have built up a detailed understanding of current usage and future needs, including latent demand. This work has been further developed using the Sports England’s Active Lives survey, population and health data which has meant that we have identified facility requirements and upgrades for each type of activity for the next twenty years.

In the case of both informal outdoor and indoor facilities identified needs were modest, but the study will need to be kept under review to take account of delivery improvements and change. The Council will not be responsible for delivering all thee required improvements ourselves, as many of the clubs and facilities are privately owned or held by other institutions.

• The study can be found on our consultant’s, PLC Leisure Consulting’s website: Reigate & Banstead Sports Studies (PLC website)