Despite community sport ranking low on local and national government agendas, some Big Local areas prioritised funding sporting events, clubs and spaces. In this essay, journalist Ryan Herman covers three Big Local areas where sport helped communities tackle some of their biggest underlying challenges, transcending physical, social and political boundaries.
In Barrow Island, Cav Park allowed children to play outside safely. East Cleveland Villages Big Local created a new cycling race, Riding the Klondike, to rival the tourism benefitting the Tour de Yorkshire. And in Chatham, Kent, Arches Big Local had success with their boxing club.
In Local Trust’s series of essays, journalists and external experts explored how people and places experienced change throughout Big Local. Each essay considers the lessons that institutions and policymakers interested in devolution of power and responsibility to a community level could take from the programme.
These essays highlight the voices and experiences of people living in some of England’s most deprived areas, around themes such as young people, climate change, sports, power dynamics, heritage and more.
A version of this essay was published on the Local Trust website in November 2019.
A plain-text version of this report will be available soon.
