Case Study 5

Project: Playing Pitch and other Outdoor Recreation Assessment and Strategy

Client: Sheffield City Council

Outline: A study of the supply of and demand for a range of outdoor sports facilities, and the development of a strategy and action plan guiding future decisions, actions, and investment.

Our approach: We secured this contract through a competitive tender process. What persuaded the Council to choose us, rather than any of a number of other very capable consultancies was our emphasis on the need to take a wider look at outdoor sports provision. Instead of focusing simply on playing pitches (which these kinds of study have tended to do) we advocated a holistic assessment covering other outdoor sports and active recreation needs. This was in recognition of the fact that relatively few people within the population actually play traditional pitch sports on a regular basis, and it is therefore essential to look at other forms of provision to meet the disparate needs of the community as a whole.

For the core of the study we adopted tried and tested assessment techniques recommended by Sport England. However we also used other techniques, especially in the consultation process to obtain a richer and more informed picture of the needs of both existing and potential users; these included a series of focus groups.

Benefits: Council staff stated the benefits of our work in helping them identify and justify:

• issues to be addressed through their decisions and actions.
• potential bids for external funding.
• greater emphasis on less conventional forms of outdoor provision of a kind that will attract participants who may not wish to play formal pitch sports, but will enjoy other less formal activity. (Facilities include 'wheels parks', casual access multi use games areas, games walls etc).

The focus groups were a success in terms of their primary function, but had the added benefit of bringing 'users and providers' together in a way that had not previously happened. The success of these initial sessions led to them being reconvened on a regular basis.