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LONDON MARATHON CHARITABLE TRUST LAUNCHES NATIONAL FUNDING PROGRAMME

New Active Spaces partnership between The London Marathon Charitable Trust and Fields in Trust will protect open spaces and tackle physical inactivity across the UK

The London Marathon Charitable Trust has announced its first UK-wide funding programme with an innovative Active Spaces partnership with Fields in Trust to safeguard the future of green spaces across the UK and to encourage people, particularly the most inactive communities, to participate in physical activity, sport and play.

The Trust has set aside £675,000 in 2017/18 to safeguard 50 green spaces in perpetuity and to fund activation programmes on those sites. Through the partnership with Fields in Trust, the green spaces will be protected from development by funding from The Trust. In addition, each site will be awarded a grant of up to £5,000 by The Trust to fund programmes that inspire the local community to get active. Programmes can include any activity including walking, cycling or coaching on the use of outdoor gym equipment.

One chosen site in each home nation (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) which demonstrates the most significant impact will receive a major grant of £25,000 for its activation programme.

Landowners and communities across the UK can now apply online to protect a site and to secure funding for activation programmes at www.fieldsintrust.org . Sites will be selected for support following an assessment of the proposed activation programme.

The London Marathon Charitable Trust was created in 1981 by Chris Brasher and John Disley, the founders of the London Marathon. Their vision ensured that the profits from the race, and future events organised by London Marathon Events Ltd, would go to The London Marathon Charitable Trust in perpetuity.

To date, The London Marathon Charitable Trust has awarded grants totalling in excess of £66 million to more than 1,190 projects in London, Surrey and other areas where London Marathon Events Ltd has organised events. This partnership with Fields in Trust is the first programme that extends beyond those areas to reach communities across the UK.

“Since 1981, The London Marathon Charitable Trust has funded a huge range of projects which have inspired millions of people to get active  in London, Surrey and other areas where London Marathon Events Ltd has organised events,” said Sir Rodney Walker, Chairman of The London Marathon Charitable Trust. “Participants in those events come from all over the UK and we feel now is the right time to make funding available to every community to safeguard much-loved local parks and green spaces and inspire more people to lead a more active lifestyle and increase the number of people regularly taking part in sports and physical activities. We believe this Active Spaces programme is delivering a practical response to the key government objectives of creating a more active nation.”

The first UK-wide funding programme from The London Marathon Charitable Trust has successfully attracted applications from across the UK. A total of fifty sites will be selected for the programme; locations in London, the Midlands and the north of England will be added shortly to the first six sites which have already been identified:

  • Belfast City Council is protecting Cregagh Green
  • Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough council has designated Gelligaled Park, Ystrad Rhondda as their Active Space
  • Roskear Recreation Ground in Camborne, Cornwall
  • In Kings Lynn, Norfolk, the River Lane Sports Pitches
  • Pilton Park West is owned by the City of Edinburgh Council
  • Forest Road Playing Fields, Mansfield District Council, Nottinghamshire

Fields in Trust currently safeguards more than 2,600 sites, a total of 30,000 acres of land (12,140ha.) including playgrounds, playing fields and formal and informal parkland across the UK.

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