Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

This report highlights the progress that has been made to date in delivering Manchester’s Sport and Physical Strategy and the amendments that are proposed to ensure the city remains on target to deliver a sustained increase in participation levels and how the City builds back fairer from the impacts of the virus. Whilst the approach is not a radical shift from the existing strategic direction, it is important to ensure that Manchester’s strategy remains aligned, not least as it helps all partners to come together behind a consistent and united focus. At a more operational level, this process is important to ensure there is a clear alignment between the work that is taking place and the ease of reporting this back within the strategy framework.

The Committee is invited to comment on this report before its submission to the Executive on 14 September 2022.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which highlighted the progress that had been made to date in delivering Manchester’s Sport and Physical Strategy and the amendments that were proposed to ensure the city remained on target to deliver a sustained increase in participation levels and how the city built back fairer from the impacts of the virus.  The Committee was invited to comment on this report before its submission to the Executive on 14 September 2022.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Progress on the Sport and Physical Activity Strategy in relation to the seven strategic themes;
• Refresh of the Sport and Physical Activity Strategy to 2028; and
• Next steps.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To welcome the shift to recognising the need for different approaches for different places and communities;
• The cost of living rise and the affordability of leisure activities, including what could be done for young people who could not afford to pay for leisure activities;
• That the most important element of the strategy was to encourage people who were currently inactive to start becoming active;
• Noting the importance of free sports activity and the ability to try a sport for free and that upgrading of sport facilities should not involve the introduction of a small fee for using them as that would deter people from trying out these activities;
• The installation of non-turf cricket wickets in parks and the need for the activation programme so that they were used;
• To welcome the Active Streets programme but could any follow-up work be done to continue to engage the residents;
• Concern that some areas did not have adequate sports facilities as having to travel to facilities was a deterrent to taking part;
• The importance of women-only activities to encourage increased participation;
• To request an increased equality focus in future reports, including recognition of invisible disabilities;
• To welcome that the report had differentiated between leisure facility membership and usage in terms of gender and that it would be useful to have this breakdown for the other equality categories; and
• That it would be useful to have more data on the progress made in relation to usage by people from Black, Asian, and other Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

Rebecca Livesey, Chief Operating Officer of MCRactive, informed the Committee about work to understand communities better and work differently, highlighting the Sport England Greater Manchester Local Pilot and the Winning Hearts and Minds programme.  She advised that the funding for these would end in 2024 and that plans were already being discussed for how the lessons learnt would be used beyond this date to work differently, embedding them in a neighbourhoods delivery model.  She reported that the programmes had a focus on people who were currently inactive and getting them to become engaged in some level of activity and that this included engagement with women, different ethnic minority groups and age groups.  She provided an example of a women’s cycling group aimed at women who had not learnt to ride a bicycle when younger and advised that there were many other examples and Members could contact her for further information.

The Commercial Lead (Neighbourhoods) outlined changes that had been made to leisure facilities to make them more accessible for disabled people.  She advised that this had so far not resulted in the expected level of increase in use by disabled residents so further work was needed, consulting with relevant groups to find out what kind of leisure sessions they wanted.  She acknowledged the cost of living crisis affecting Manchester residents, including children and young people, and reported that the Council and its partners were responding with an increase in free, accessible facilities, including localised, targeted provision.  In response to a Member’s comments, she advised that more work would be done to improve communication, including non-digital communication, so that residents were aware of what was available in their area.  In response to the comments about the equality data in the report, she advised that she would provide the additional data requested to Committee Members.  She reported that more women-only sessions were being provided, although there had been challenges in recruiting female lifeguards in some areas which they were working to address.  

Yawar Abbas, Head of Sport and Events, MCRactive advised that he and his colleagues were happy to meet with individual Members to discuss the issues they had raised, including activities for young people and the follow-up to Active Streets.  He acknowledged the Member’s point about introducing charges for facilities, saying that this was a complex issue as the provision had to be sustainable.  He outlined how this was being achieved in relation to tennis and also highlighted the Holiday Activity Fund, which was targeting free provision where it was most needed.  Rebecca Livesey drew Members’ attention to the free swimming offer for those aged 16 and under and those aged 60 and over.  Yawar Abbas advised that the launch of the activation programme for the non-turf cricket wickets was due to take place the following day.

Decisions

1.            To request a further report including place-based activity across the wards, comparison of different areas of the city, coaching opportunities, the impact of the cost-of-living rise, work to engage people with different protected characteristics, including women, and providing activities to engage young people.

2.            To note that the Commercial Lead (Neighbourhoods) will provide the data requested.

3.            To endorse the recommendation to the Executive that:

(1)      The Executive is recommended to approve the refresh of the Strategy.