Sport England doubles relief fund for sport affected by winter flooding

In response to the continued flooding affecting northern England, Sport England has extended its emergency flood relief fund to any areas affected by the Storm Eva and the current flood waters.

The relief fund has also been doubled from its initial level of £200,000 to £400,000.

The funding is available to sports clubs, local authorities and other community sports organisations to help pay for emergency repairs to damaged facilities such as football, rugby and cricket pitches, water sports centres, pavilions, changing rooms and floodlights. Financial support can be provided in as little as three weeks.

Clubs, charities and similar organisations in the affected areas are being encouraged to go to the Sport England website at www.sportengland.org/floodfund to see if they are eligible to apply.

Those needing funding to clean up and get up and running quickly can request up to £5,000 of emergency funding through our online application which could be awarded in just a few weeks. Organisations that do not qualify for the fund will be given advice about other sources of funding that could help.

The Emergency Flood Relief fund is open to applications now, but will close at 5pm on Monday 1st February 2016.

Jennie Price, Sport England’s Chief Executive, said: “We appreciate that sport isn’t a major priority when people’s lives, homes and businesses are at risk. But once communities are starting to get their lives back to normal, being able to use their local pitch or sports club as usual can make a real difference.

“By launching this fund quickly to help with clean up and repair costs, I hope we can give people affected by the floods one less thing to worry about.”

Work that will typically be funded includes:

•tGrass pitch restoration
•tClubhouse decontamination and repairs
•tReplacement of damaged/condemned electrical systems
•tSteam cleaning, de-silting of drains

Early indications suggest that the biggest impact of the bad weather, in terms of sport, has been on facilities in Cumbria, Lancashire and Northumberland. It’s affecting sports such as hockey, rugby and football because of flooded and waterlogged pitches, and water sports where many clubs are on riverbanks or in coastal areas.

Richard Johnson, Active Cumbria’s senior manager, said: "Active Cumbria are working with clubs, national governing bodies of sport, leisure operators, and other partner organisations to compile details of the facilities affected by the floods, the impact is far reaching, and covers large parts of our rural county. We welcome Sport England's early intervention, and we look forward to working with them to help get the affected clubs and facilities up and running again as soon as possible."

For more information about how to apply for funding, click here.

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