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	Why was the Bath Sport Group formed?   The Bath Rec. and the future of sport in Bath   Why sport and active leisure are so important for Bath & the wider community   Drawing on John Wood’s Inspiration   String of Pearls   Legal status of the Bath Rec.   Bath Royal Forum   Under One Roof
			Why was the Bath Sport Group formed? It was born out of a collective frustration over the legal stalemate at the Rec. and the consequent threat to Bath Rugby in particular and to Bath sport in general. The diverse company of people that makes up the Bath Sport Group is united by a set of guiding principles that are as follows:  elite sport both builds and binds communities; elite sport inspires people of all ages and creates a desire to participate in sport at the grass roots level; greater participation in sport is crucial to raising activity levels, and improving the nation’s health; the Rec. must be rebuilt in a manner that is consistent with John Wood’s architectural legacy; changing the orientation of the Rec. to embrace, rather than shun, the river would dramatically improve its appeal to Bath residents and visitors alike; the new buildings should also provide an outstanding outdoor venue for cultural events, such as festivals and concerts, consistent and compatible with Bath’s status as a city of culture. Bath has a long and distinguished sporting history, with Bath Rugby Club representing its most potent sporting symbol. The city and its surrounding areas have been blessed with an abundance of sporting activity, for both participants and spectators, ranging from grass-roots to elite competition. For a number of years though, this rosy picture has been increasingly tainted by a combination of little or no community leadership, particularly over the future of the Rec., and the absence of any coherent plan for the continuing provision of sport in Bath, across all disciplines, levels and ages in a way which meets modern needs. When viewed against the backdrop of the serious decline in young people’s sports participation levels and the concerns about the general population’s decreasing activity levels, with all of the ensuing health problems, it becomes increasingly apparent that something must be done. Bath Chamber of Commerce In fact the Bath Chamber of Commerce, through its sports and leisure committee, has been considering these issues for some time. This committee represented almost the full range of Bath sports (rugby, football, cricket, hockey, tennis, netball and horse racing) and also had delegates from B&NES Council, Team Bath, several local schools, as well as local business representatives. By early 2004, a small contingent felt the Chamber was no longer the appropriate forum for addressing these broader community and recreational issues and formed itself into the Bath Sport Group. Bath Sport Group vision The shared values of the group are both simple and powerful: Bath sport is for everyone; elite sport and winning inspires all; working together as a community we can achieve much more; inspiring children early secures their later participation. The main purpose of the group is to achieve what the individual sporting organisations could not do by first creating a single vision for sport in the Bath community and then aligning the key sporting organisations to this single vision by providing inspirational leadership in its execution. Bath Sporting Model Underpinning the emerging strategy is the sporting model illustrated below. This was developed originally by Government, and then refined by the Bath Sport Group to add the three elements that must be in place for both elite and recreational sport to thrive, namely: adequate facilities, funding and coaching. It’s perhaps worth noting here that two successful Bath community clubs, Bath Cricket Club and Bath Netball Club, provided the archetype for Bath’s sporting model. Bath Cricket Club, for example, consistently manages to meet the needs of both elite and recreational cricketers. It has extensive relationships with local schools, and is recognised by the likes of David Graveney (Chairman of the England Selectors) as being responsible for maintaining local interest in youth cricket, during the sport’s doldrums following the demise of cricket in schools. Its contribution to community cricket has now been recognised by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) who awarded them focus club status as a ‘hub’ of the community. Facilities are fundamental While good coaching and adequate funding can compensate, at least in the short term, for poor facilities, eventually performance will deteriorate and interest will decline. Good facilities are particularly important for attracting young players into a sport as so many activities, many of them sedentary, compete for their attention. Bath Cricket Club recognised some time ago the importance of upgrading their facilities in order to remain competitive in the market for young people’s attention. In 2003, it secured full planning approval to redevelop its facilities into a single unified building comprising the clubhouse, a four-lane indoor cricket school with associated cricket participation facilities, and improved hospitality facilities. Meanwhile, across the road, Bath Rugby has been waiting for years for the community leadership inertia and the hiatus surrounding the legal status of the Rec. to be resolved so that their impoverished facilities can be improved. The situation is now critical and potentially life-threatening for premiership rugby in Bath. The Bath Sport Group believes that this situation has arisen because Bath Rugby has been obliged to act alone in the absence of a community vision and approach. It is axiomatic that any strategy for enhancement of the facilities on the Rec. must be developed in the context of the whole community’s needs, not just those of the rugby fraternity. Is there more to the strategy than just building new facilities? Also crucial to the strategy is the development of an integrated approach for managing the individual Bath sports. The Bath Sport Group members believe passionately that individual sports should not be dealt with in isolation and that the city needs a single framework for planning and prioritising sport’s funding, coaching and facilities development. To this end, the Bath Sport Group is developing a matrix covering each local sport that will show the extent to which the sport meets the group’s target achievement levels. The matrix will identify any gaps and whether they relate to such things as overall participation levels, minority participation levels and elite performance achievements. The matrix will also highlight funding sustainability issues for individual sports and provide a means of considering funding for Bath Sport within a consistent investment context. Why can’t this be done by central and local government? The pressure from central government on national sporting bodies to move control of individual sports to both the regional and national level, combined with the transfer of sports funding into deprived areas, has led to a vacuum at the local level that can only be addressed by communities getting together to take control of their sporting destiny. Many city communities, such as Leicester, Manchester and Cardiff, have already begun to take direct action to improve sport in their communities. The Bath Sport Group believes that Bath has an opportunity to be in the vanguard of this community sporting movement. Their aim is to ensure that Bath continues to progress from elite to grass-root level as a first class sporting city where participation, whether as a player, an organiser or a spectator, is irresistible. top