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County Durham receives £207,000 boost to increase local opportunities

Disabled people in County Durham will have more opportunities to get involved in sport after Durham University in partnership with Durham County Council received £207,491 of funding from Sport England’s Inclusive Sport fund.

This club is one of 44 projects across England that will benefit from £8.06 million of National Lottery investment from Sport England to open up more opportunities for disabled people to play sport.

Durham University and Durham County Council are working in partnership to develop a disability programme for adults across County Durham. They have a strong history of successfully working together and by combining resources, knowledge and facilities whilst actively including their extensive partner network. They feel in a strong position to deliver an effective and sustainable programme for our target groups.

The Project is working with three specific disability groups which are people with mental health conditions, learning disability and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The programme will be delivered over two County Durham hub sites; the Graham Sport Centre in Durham City for mental health conditions and Spennymoor Leisure Centre for learning disabilities and ASD. They will target participants aged 16 and over, with activities split into two ages ranges – 16-30 and 30 plus. Dr Peter Warburton OBE, Dean of Experience Durham said:

“Durham University is absolutely delighted to be partnering Durham County Council in supporting this project across the County and wish to record our thanks to Sport England in making this initiative possible.”

Sport England Director of Insight, Lisa O’Keefe, said:

“We are delighted to be able to help Durham University and Durham County Council  provide more opportunities for disabled people to give sport a go. Record numbers of disabled people now play sport and it’s thanks to clubs like this that we can continue to improve opportunities and make a real difference in communities.”

The number of disabled people playing sport regularly is on the rise. In December 2013, Sport England’s Active People Survey - an annual, in-depth measure of the nation’s sporting habits – revealed that a record number of disabled people in England now play sport each week. However, non-disabled people are still twice as likely to play sport as disabled people (39.2 per cent compared to 18.5 per cent) which is why Sport England continues to focus attention and investment to address this imbalance.

Sport England’s Inclusive Sport Fund supports programmes that aim to increase the number of disabled people playing sport. Since the fund launched, £17.1 million has been invested in 88 projects that make sport a viable lifestyle choice for disabled people. 

As well as funding disability sport programmes, Sport England also funds equipment. In addition to today's £8.06 million announcement, Sport England also recently awarded £1 million to 141 clubs across England to help them buy equipment to open up sport to disabled people.  

In 2013, Sport England invested £2million into the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) to help accelerate our strategy to increase sports participation over two years. They have also directly funded six disability sports organisations to advise, support and guide other sports governing bodies as they create opportunities for participation by disabled people. British Blind Sport, Cerebral Palsy Sport, Dwarf Sport Association UK, WheelPower, UK Deaf Sport and Mencap Sport/Special Olympics GB all received a share of £1.3 million of National Lottery funding to make this happen.