Minister for Sport and Tourism discusses strategy for outdoor recreation

The Sport and Recreation Alliance and the Outdoor Industries Association today hosted an event to discuss the development of a strategy on outdoor recreation.

Minister for Sport and Tourism Helen Grant MP spoke about her love of the outdoors and the need to champion the sector. She talked about her desire for a national strategy, designed to support the UK’s favourite pastime of getting active outdoors. She noted the need to coordinate the work of ministers across a number of departments to develop more ways to encourage people to get outdoors for the benefit of their health and the health of the economy.

The Sport and Recreation Alliance published Reconomics in 2013, which found that 42.4 million adults in England visited the natural environment that year, generating a visitor spend of £27 billion. The Government already invests in preserving, protecting and promoting the outdoors – and the sector has been very successful. Any future work will need to build on these findings to ensure that the UK is making the most of the vast blue and green gym, which makes up the outdoors.

The Minister has tasked the Sport and Recreation Alliance and the Outdoor Industries Association to set up a working group to articulate what their asks for Government are and what could be included in a future strategy. Areas that could be covered include:

•Making the outdoors accessible to all
•Protecting our nation's natural assets through planning and regulation
•Placing outdoor recreation at the heart of health strategies
•Ensuring children and young people have the opportunity to experience the outdoors as part of and outside of the curriculum
•Promoting outdoor education as a crucial part of a child’s learning

Helen Grant has galvanised support for the sector from across Government and agreed with Ministerial colleagues that she will champion the sector within Government.

Speaking at the event Sport and Recreation Alliance Chief Executive Emma Boggis said:

"Outdoor recreation is the UK’s favourite pastime and so it is integral to the health of our nation. We are pleased with the work being done with DCMS and the Outdoor Industries Association to explore how we can get more people active outdoors. A National Strategy for Outdoor Recreation will need to continue to build on the sectors success and develop even more ways to encourage people to get outdoors for the benefit of their health and well-being."

Minister for Sport and Tourism Helen Grant MP said:
"Outdoor recreation can play a big role to boost the nation's health and well-being and I am committed to championing this sector. I want more people to take advantage of Britain's great outdoors - whether that be running in the local park or treetop trekking, as I did in Cumbria."

Andrew Denton, Chief Executive of the OIA added:
"The Outdoor Industries Association is incredibly pleased to be involved in this project with the DCMS and the Sport and Recreation Alliance. Being asked to Co-Chair the working group that develops a National Strategy for Outdoor Recreation means we can bring the experience of our 200 members from across the sector to bear, and get really broad buy in from the start in all areas.

We are convinced that understanding the sector, defining it and exploring ways to support it are all potential outcomes. If that leads to a healthier Outdoor Recreation sector then it will in turn lead to a healthier Britain.

We look forward to working with the Sport and Recreation Alliance, DCMS and across departments to draft a meaningful plan to develop the sector for everyone."

Emma blogged about the experiences of the day here.

Also, read Hannah Dobbin's blog about the recent Outdoor Recreation Network Conference.

Find out more about our current ask around outdoor recreation here.

Read the report that started it all, Reconomics, here.

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