Sports Development: Perry Barr Constituency

As a sports lover, when I noticed that the main agenda item for my first Perry Barr Constituency Committee as a Councillor was Sports Development, I was looking forward to the presentation and the debate. I was fairly familiar with the Perry Barr Sports Development Team but did not realise the extent of what the team had achieved since being set up in 2005. The presentation delivered was excellent with exciting times for sport in the area.

The team has delivered many of its priorities in particular creating safer and stronger communities through sports engagement. In 5 years, the team have supported 175 project engaging 12,840 young people across the constituency. Just in the ward that I am a Councillor, Lozells & East Handsworth, 3,638 participants have been engaged through 50 projects.

In June 2010, CSPAN – Community Sports & Physical Activity Network – was set up. This has over 70 clubs/organisations affiliated to it and is referred to as ‘Godfather for sport and physical activity’ in the constituency.

The highlight of the presentation for me was being able to learn more about the Holford Drive Community Sports HUB. Holford Drive is a familiar place for me as I can clearly recall playing my school cricket there as a teenager whilst at Holte School. I can’t not mention the fact that I was Holte Cricketer of the Year for three consecutive years in 1994, 1995 and 1996 whilst captaining my team to substantial success.

There is an investment of £1.2m being made for capital costs to develop the Holford Drive site into a community led sports club to facilitate Cricket, Football, Boxing, etc. The investment towards the project will rise to £2m plus.

Community groups, sports clubs and community activist’s are at the heart of this project. Furthermore, national sporting bodies such as ECB [English & Wales Cricket Board] and the FA [Football Association] are involved in order to provide the relevant support to sustain grassroot level sporting activity.

To find out more about this project and the fantastic work of the Perry Barr Sports Development Team, please visit their website and watch the video below.