MAYOR OF LONDON LAUNCHES LONDON SPORT

A new not-for-profit sports organisation with a £5.5m budget to improve sports facilities and inspire more Londoners to be physically active has unveiled in the capital by the Mayor of London.

London Sport aims to get one million people more active by 2020 and make the capital “the most physically active city in the world”.

The organisation is now in discussions with Loughborough University to develop an index comparing levels of participation amongst Olympic and Paralympic host cities.

The £5.5m a year investment comes from the Mayor of London and Sport England to help it achieve its ambitions.

By influencing the public and private sectors to provide increased funding, there is also a target for London Sport’s annual income to have increased to  £10m by 2018.

The organisation – which will bring together the Mayor of London and Sport England into a formal partnership for the first time - was unveiled at the Westminster Boating Base by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and the chief executive of Sport England, Jennie Price.

The Mayor of London also announced a further £1m investment into his Sports Legacy Programme over the next 12 months to help to deliver the ‘Blueprint for a Physically Active Sporting City’.

The Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme, set up in 2009 and spearheaded by the Mayor's commissioner for sport Kate Hoey, is supporting London’s promise of an Olympic and Paralympic legacy by investing £22.5m in projects across every London borough.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: “Through my Sports Legacy Programme, we have already been able to refurbish or upgrade more than 100 sports facilities; trained 13,000 more sports coaches; and got almost 400,000 more people playing sport. I look forward to working alongside London Sport and helping hundreds of thousands more Londoners to get active, try something new and lead healthier lifestyles.”

Kate Hoey MP commented: “The launch of London Sport marks a hugely significant moment for grassroots sport in London. Both Sport England and the Mayor through his Sports Legacy Programme have been doing tremendous things to encourage more people to be physically active, but now, with shared ambition and vigour, we hope to make London the most physically active city on the planet.”

Results from Sport England’s latest annual Active People Survey indicate an that over the Olympic and Paralympic period (2011 – 2013) there was an upward trend in people taking part in physical activity and sport in the capital. The challenge for London Sport is to accelerate the levels of growth over the next five years.  

Peter Fitzboydon, CEO of London Sport, added: “London has proven it can host the most prestigious sports events in the world, now it is time to prove that we can deliver for grassroots sport. Not enough people are realising the benefits of being physically active and our role is to work out why, and do whatever is needed to give everyone the opportunity to be more active.

“Our team will help the private and public sectors offer opportunities to people of all ages and abilities to find an activity that inspires them – from parkour to pilates to pentathlon. There is an activity for everyone; our job is to make sure opportunities to be active inspire and reach many more people.”