Minister Hugh Robertson was joined by Olympic and Paralympic chiefs to unveil new London 2012 mass participation legacy plans in the form of a new Places People Play initiative. Sport England, the government agency responsible for community sport which received a 30 per cent funding cut in last month's Comprehensive Spending Review, will deliver the scheme in partnership with the British Olympic Association and the British Paralympic Association. The £135m initiative, brought about the Government's National Lottery reforms in last month's CSR, also has the full backing of the London 2012 organising committee, who five years ago built their bid on legacy promises.
"This is the cornerstone of a grassroots legacy from hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games because it delivers on the bid pledge of enabling more people of all ages and all abilities to play sport," said Robertson. "With more Lottery money being invested there will be opportunities for everyone to get involved. "When people talk about the legacy of the Games, we want them to talk about Places People Play."Sport England chief executive Jennie Price revealed £98m of the £135 was additional funding whereas £37m had already been set aside by the organisation.
"In developing Places People Play, we wanted to bring both the Games and grassroots sport to life in the communities across the country ensuring that, in challenging times, sports receive the investment and attention in needs at a local level."
Breaking the scheme down into its three sections; the Places element will see Sport England invest £50m in funding into local sports facilities in five funding rounds up to 2015.
Clubs community and voluntary sector groups as well as councils will be able to apply for grants between £25,000 and £150,000 where there is a proven need for facilities to be modernised.
A further £10m will be spent on protecting and improving playing fields while £30m will be used to maintain and improve elite sporting facilities.
The People part of the scheme will see 40,000 sports leaders recruited at a cost of £2m to supplement lowest level qualified coaches across the country.
Each leader will commit to at least ten hours of volunteering and this initiative will be delivered in partnership with the BOA and the BPA, with Robertson also urging National Governing Bodies to play a significant role.
BOA chairman Lord Colin Moynihan added: "When London was awarded the Games it was with the promise that legacy would be more than a word - it would be a tangible, sustainable commitment.
"These innovative programmes will do exactly that and the beneficiaries will be the generations of young athletes, coaches, parents and volunteers throughout our country who see their lives enriched."
With regards to Play, Sport England have launched a separate initiative - Gold Challenge - encouraging the public to participate in Olympic and Paralympic sport to raise money for charity.
While a charity and therefore a self-funding organisation, Gold Challenge will receive £4m to invest in delivery of the programme should it exceed the expected 100,000-strong demand.
Sportivate also comes under the Play banner and is aimed at providing sporting opportunities to young adults aged between 14-25 with £32m to be invested in offering six-week long periods of coaching.
London 2012 chairman Lord Sebastian Coe has long since pledged that the Olympics will ‘inspire a new generation to take up sport' and acknowledged the new initiative would see those goals realised.
"When we bid for the Games in Singapore in 2005, we said that we would use the power of the Games to inspire young people to take up sport," he said.
"Places People Play will harness the inspirational power of the Games to promote sport across the country to leave a lasting legacy. This is what we set out to achieve by bringing the Games to London and to the UK."