WELLNESS CITIES
a couple of football pitches, a cricket square, some tennis courts and a bowling green – represented a ‘keep fit’ package then aspired to, which suited people’s way of life. It would be taken for granted that you would cycle or walk there, although rarely along special cycleways or footpaths. However, their pattern and level of use is changing: for example, there’s a trend away from grass surfaces for adult 11-a-side football towards small-sided soccer on artificial grass pitches. There’s also a drop-off in demand for outdoor public tennis courts and bowling greens, leaving some of them sadly under-used. Parallel to this, there has been an
explosion in the number of running and cycling groups, clubs and events now taking place throughout the UK, catering for all levels of ability and demand. Recreation grounds have adapted to
some extent: adding children’s play areas, changing tennis courts to multi-use games surfaces, installing floodlights to extend hours of use and constructing ‘trim trails’. But although there’s still a range of
funding sources for developing and improving sports facilities, particularly for the voluntary sector, local authorities have seen their budgets for provision, enhancement and maintenance severely reduced, and also have fewer personnel to promote, supervise and manage them. Meanwhile, well over half of all sports facilities are located on school, college and university sites; we still need to encourage and support their use by the wider community, not only to make the best use of resources but also to show young people that to be physically active is important for their whole life. We need to link all these existing
facilities in to the Active Design movement, and try to bridge the divides that exist between fitness and sport, between indoor and outdoor facilities and between public, educational and commercial sites. It’s wonderful to
If you’d like to know more… Some of the documents referenced in this feature can be found online:
• Reuniting Health with Planning: Healthier Homes, Healthier Communities –
www.health-club.co.uk/TCPA
• Active Design: Promoting opportunities for sport and physical activity through good design –
www.health-club.co.uk/sportengland_activedesign
•
www.sportengland.org/facilities-planning/planning-for-sport/planning-tools-and-guidance/active-design/ • City Health Check –
www.health-club.co.uk/cityhealthcheck •
www.architecture.com/RIBA/Campaigns%20and%20issues/CityHealthCheck/CityHealthCheck.aspx 54 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
Activity facilities in towns and cities should be linked via cyclepaths and walkways
have new cycleways and footpaths, but wherever possible let’s try and link them to other existing ‘activity destinations’ – sports centres, outdoor and indoor pools, floodlit astroturf pitches, grass pitches, tennis courts, allotments, beaches, rivers and school sports facilities. We can use open space in parks
more effectively too, by providing sheltered seating and meeting points, water fountains and outdoor showers, measured walking tracks, wildflower meadows and healthy food outlets. Many such projects are being funded through the Fields in Trust (formerly the NPFA) and its Queen Elizabeth II Fields initiative, which set out to permanently protect outdoor recreational spaces. On a positive note, some sports
centres are already using health sector funding to provide bicycles and are setting up local cycling networks; others are increasingly used as bases for running and cycling events. But as further food for thought, how about converting disused tennis courts to small allotment areas? Co-locating facilities in this way can bring many benefits in terms of increased use, more revenue, improved sustainability and better supervision.
Maximising use In its City Health Check document, RIBA recommended the production of Healthy Infrastructure Action Plans in
local authorities that comprise less than 50 per cent green space and/or have a housing density of over 5 per cent, with the idea that these might be partly funded through the Community Infrastructure Levy. A spin-off from this could be the
creation of fitness trails that set out measured routes by foot or bicycle linking ‘activity destinations’, with opportunities to stop off along the way. It would be great to encourage people using these to become volunteers and responsibly monitor use of facilities, so that as well as benefiting their own health, they are helping others. Indeed, some local authorities are
already training up volunteers to check for litter and damage to play areas and paddling pools, so they can notify the local authority if there’s an urgent problem to attend to, thus making more efficient use of maintenance staff’s time. As well as taking responsibility
for our own health, we need to take responsibility for our active environment, as in this current era of reduced public sector expenditure we risk losing any sports and fitness facilities we don’t use. There are already many wonderful opportunities out there – let’s encourage their use as effectively as we can. ●
Jacqueline Bennett is a town planner based in theWest Country, UK. She and her husband Kevin run a consultancy – belap – which specialises in planning for sport, recreation and health, preparing strategies and studies for local authorities and other public, voluntary and private sector clients throughout the south of England. She is particularly interested in changing patterns of use and provision related to outdoor sports and recreation facilities. Web
www.belap.co.uk Tel +44 (0)7870 698639
August 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/BIKEWORLDTRAvEL
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