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"In August 2003, SQW was appointed by the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to undertake a study into the nature of joint working between sports organisations and those promoting neighbourhood renewal, with a view to identifying ways to increase the incidence and the effectiveness of this joint working.
Neighbourhood renewal and sport can be thought of as overlapping worlds, each with its own silos of structures, decision-makers and specialist funding streams. It is where these worlds meet that progress is made – where sports organisations and neighbourhood renewal organisations work together to promote the role of sport in neighbourhood renewal. Our challenge is to understand why the crossover area is not larger, involving more people and more areas.
The study has focused on grassroots community sporting activities in England. We have explored decision making from national to neighbourhood level and looked for joint working through agendas, networks and activities.
The study does not include consideration of elite sporting activities or large set-piece sporting events as these raise different issues. It has also not sought to evaluate specific sports projects or provide a comprehensive overview of the evidence base on the links between sport and wider benefits, as these have been done elsewhere.
The research for this study has been based upon a desk review of relevant literature, a series of consultations with national bodies and Government departments, and eight case studies of different deprived areas within England drawn from the 88 most deprived authorities. The eight case studies were selected to illustrate the diversity of experience between deprived areas with respect to involvement in sport. Each case study focused on a local authority area, interviewing decision-makers at that level, but also including the study of a specific neighbourhood and decision-making at a regional level. This approach was chosen in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how sports and regeneration organisations work together."
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