Glossary of terms

An online database of sports facilities   http://www.activeplaces.co.uk/

Previously-developed land that is, or was, occupied by a permanent structure, including the curtilage of the developed land and any associated fixed surface infrastructure.’ The definition includes defence buildings, but excludes:

• Land that is or has been occupied by agricultural or forestry buildings.
• Land that has been developed for minerals extraction or waste disposal by landfil purposes where provision for restoration has been made through development control procedures.
• Land in built-up areas such as private residential gardens, parks, recreation grounds and allotments, which, although it may feature paths, pavilions and other buildings, have not been previously developed.
• Land that was previously developed but where the remains of the permanent structure or fixed surface structure have blended into the landscape in the process of time (to the extent that it can reasonably be considered as part of the natural surroundings).

An agreement between parties, typically a governing body of a school, local education partnership or trust and a sports club, league, national governing body of sport and a local authority.

It sets out the basis upon which the school makes available its sports facilities for use by the local community, sports clubs and leagues.

As a public sector body, Sport England is obligated to take steps to protect its investments using lottery monies. It must ensure that the capital project continues to provide public benefit along the lines of the original purpose of the grant.

This means that there must be a mechanism in place which gives Sport England the ability to retrieve the grant if, for example, the applicant organisation goes into liquidation, otherwise chooses to dispose of its property or uses the asset/s for purposes other than the intended and agreed purposes.

This mechanism is contained within both the special conditions and Standard Terms and Conditions of Award.

For all capital grants under the Protecting Playing Fields programme, Sport England will:

1. take a fixed charge or restriction on title for a minimum of 25 years;
2. require that the terms of any lease are suitable

It is important to ensure that an applicant has the right to occupy and use the land and/or building Sport England is funding. This is referred to as ‘security of tenure’ which means that the applicant must have either a freehold or leasehold interest.

NB: An occupancy licence and a tenancy at will are never acceptable forms of security of tenure.

A freehold interest is preferable for Sport England’s purposes. A freehold interest can either be registered or unregistered. Both are acceptable but Sport England will usually request that an unregistered freehold interest is registered at the Land Registry.

If the land is registered at the Land Registry, the applicant must provide current official copies of entries which will include details of the land including any rights, ownership and details of charges, mortgages and restrictive covenants.

A freehold interest offers the best security but in many cases the applicant may have only a leasehold interest.

Sport England will often provide grants to applicants who will use the funds to build, improve or refurbish a building on land which is owned by a third party. In this case Sport England will generally not be able to take security over the land or buildings, but will seek to secure the grant funds by creating a security interest over the grant applicant’s lease of the land and buildings.

The lease must be in the name of the applicant or its trustees/nominees who hold the property for the benefit of the organisation concerned. All leaseholds must show an unbroken term for a minimum specified duration which will depend on the amount of the award – this means the lease cannot contain a break clause.

Consideration should also be given to any forfeiture clause that reverts the property back to the Landlord on unreasonable terms.

NB: No payment can be made until a copy of the executed lease is received but submitting a draft lease with an application is acceptable to check the details and process the application.

Further details on Security of Tenure and Registration can be found in the FAQs.

An assessment of playing pitch provision which is based on the methodology outlined in Sport England’s ‘Towards a Level Playing Field: A Guide to the Production of Playing Pitch Strategies’, or an alternative methodology acceptable to Sport England.

An assessment should look at the supply and demand for playing pitches in a local area covering the quantity, quality and accessibility of provision.

The assessment should be based on an audit which covers all pitch provision in the local area and then differentiate between those sites which are accessible to the community and those which are not.

The assessment could include a survey of all relevant local pitch sport clubs, the leagues that they play in along with pitch providers and any relevant sports governing body contacts.

The assessment should look at the capacity of sites/pitches and factor in all relevant uses (for example. competitive games, training and educational use).

The Local Development Framework, containing the core strategy and other relevant documents can usually be found on local authority websites under Planning.

Building on any local needs assessment of playing fields, a strategy which adheres to the guidance in Sport England’s Towards a Level Playing Field document and clearly identifies priorities for investment within the local area.

The strategy and the needs assessment on which it is based should have been reviewed and/or updated in the past three years.

Sport England’s statutory role on playing fields as defined by Town and Country Planning Development Management Order 2010 (previously SI 1817 (1996) as amended by SI 2009/453)

In our capacity as a Statutory Consultee, Sport England must be consulted on development which:

• is likely to prejudice the use, or lead to the loss of use, of land being used as a playing field, or
•  is land which has been:
• used as a playing field at any time in the 5 years before the making of the relevant application which remains undeveloped, or
• allocated for use as the applying field in a development plan or in proposals for such a plan or its alteration or replacement, or
• involves the replacement of the grass surface of a playing pitch on a playing field with an artificial, man-made or composite surface