Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to deliver (a) the Greenfields Sports Ground project, (b) the Marches School project and (c) the North East Area (Whitchurch) 3G FTP project..

High-quality, inclusive facilities help people get active. Everyone, no matter who they are or where they live, should have access to them and opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity.

This year, the Government is investing £98 million through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, which is delivered through the Football Foundation in England. The Football Foundation plans their investment pipeline based on Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs), which have been developed in partnership with local authorities, community FAs and other sport stakeholders. The LFFP for Shropshire, which notes the potential Greenfields Sports Ground, Marches School North East Area (Whitchurch) 3G FTP projects can be found here. The Football Foundation is currently engaging with Marches Academy Trust and Shropshire Council to understand the feasibility of these projects.

In June, the Government committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. This funding will be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities that promote health and wellbeing and remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups.

We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.

This funding is on top of the £250 million a year which we invest through Sport England, our arm’s length body responsible for physical activity and sport participation in England, into grassroots sport and physical activity.