Environment and roads

Sport in rural communities

"Increasing participation and access to sport & physical activities in rural areas"

In November 2003 the Herts Rural Forum, together with the recently formed Herts Sports Partnership, hosted a conference to focus on the barriers experienced by rural communities in accessing sport.

It provided a timely opportunity to build on the enthusiasm and energy that world sporting success brings (following hot on the heels of England's World Cup Rugby success!) and to get real benefits for grass-roots sports in rural areas.

The conference considered sport in its broadest sense, including formal and informal activities, ranging from organised team sports to casual recreational pursuits such as walking, cycling and horse riding sports that are more commonly associated with rural areas.

Through a number of workshops the conference provided delegates the opportunity to find out about:

• increasing participation in sport
• securing funding
• identifying links to the health agenda
• the contribution of community planning
• identifying ways to encourage volunteering

The outputs from the workshops can be found below.