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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
			The Bath Recreation Ground and the future of sport in Bath Concerned about the Rec.’s future? Interested in a unique opportunity for community benefit through the complete re-generation of the recreational heart of the World Heritage Site, with a design inspired by John Wood? Want to find out about an innovative sporting model of national significance that includes partnerships to deliver health, social and economic benefits as well as facilities fit for modern sportsmen and women, and youth? Bath is well known for its rich architectural heritage and abundance of cultural activities for all ages. It is less well known for its long and distinguished sporting history symbolised by the Bath Rugby Club, which remains at the heart of the city’s sporting endeavours. The city and its surrounding areas are blessed already with an abundance of sporting activity, for both participants and spectators, ranging from grass-roots to elite competition – and all set against a back-drop of outstanding built environment and natural beauty of world repute. As a community we now have an opportunity to combine these unique sporting, cultural and heritage qualities into a major new source of civic pride and benefit by devising and implementing an innovative and collaborative sporting model of national significance. The situation today But there are some major obstacles for the Bath community to overcome before the city can achieve its sporting destiny. The most significant of which is the long-standing hiatus in the prime recreational area of the city, and consequent neglect and decay of many of the support facilities. As a community we risk becoming mired in a narrow debate about the legal status of the Recreation Ground (Rec.) and risk inflicting a mortal wound on the future of sport in the city, by driving the Rugby Club away from the city centre. This will reduce the city’s unique appeal, both locally and nationally, and even internationally. The way forward The Bath Sport Group is a small group of concerned and interested people committed to broadening the scope of the current debate into a discussion on how the city of Bath can regenerate its recreational heart and pursue an ambitious 21st century sporting vision for the city. The vision builds upon the inspiration of the architect John Wood, as well as the civic pride of philanthropists, such as the Pulteney family, who in the 1890s donated the site of the Rec. to the city for use as a sporting venue. Redeveloping Bath’s recreational heart will reinforce established and fundamental sporting partnerships, such as exist between the City and Bath Rugby, and facilitate and evolve new ones, such as between the City and Team Bath. These high profile partnerships that involve elite athletes will help to demonstrate the value of sport and encourage more participation at all levels of sporting endeavour, thus building upon the B&NES Council ‘Get Active’ vision. ‘Get Active’ sets out a framework for encouraging more active participation in sports, primarily at the grassroots level, in the belief that improved co-ordination and committed partnerships will deliver health, social and economic benefits for the community. To promote, protect and develop local clubs and groups with an interest in sport, B&NES Council is to dissolve the present ‘Clubs Forum’ and launch a ‘Federation of Sports Clubs and Organisations’ as an independent voluntary body. (Do we need to link to some council pages describing this in more detail?) Issues raised by new sporting vision Regenerating Bath’s recreational heart and driving forward a new sporting vision raises three key strategic issues: why the future of Bath sport is so entwined with the future of the Rec.; what form the community redevelopment of the city’s recreational area should take; the part played in the vision by Team Bath (the Sports Institute of the University of Bath). Why is the future of Bath sport is so entwined with the future of the Rec.? In 1894 the Bath & County Recreation Ground Company was formed to acquire the lease of the Rec. from the Bathwick Estate. The Pulteney family, who owned the Bathwick Estate, had previously donated the site to the people of Bath with the site clearly constructed as a playing field, not a park. The new company was set up as a commercial concern with the aim of letting the ground for organised sporting activities and events. The lease was subject to a raft of covenants whose overriding intention was to increase the attractiveness of Bath as a city. Since the company’s formation in 1894, the Rec. has hosted not just countless rugby games but also cricket, football, tennis and croquet matches and even some ice skating. Only ladies’ football was excluded! So the intention was always to provide the citizens of Bath with an open space, where sport can take place, and for this space to be constructed in such a way as to add to Bath’s appeal as a city. Today, the Rec. is the permanent home of Bath Rugby as well hosting regular events, such as The Friends of Bath County Cricket Festival, and ad-hoc occasions, such as the Jamie Cullum concert. And together with the adjacent Bath Cricket Club ground, it continues to provide the city’s main green lung. But both areas currently have buildings that are neither pleasing to the eye, nor fit for use by modern sportsmen and women. Indeed, when viewed against the backdrop of the architectural gems of Bathwick, and the Pulteney Street area of the city, they are an embarrassment to the proud citizens of Bath. There is a compelling case for urgent action. On the legal front, a High Court judge ruled in 2002 that the Rec. was a valid charitable trust but left to the Charity Commission the task of putting a 21st century interpretation of public benefit on the existing covenants and thus in deciding how the Rec. should be used in the future. What form should the community redevelopment of the city’s recreational area take? The strategic proposition of the Bath Sport Group is that the only way to drive forward the right sporting vision for Bath is through the complete regeneration of the recreational heart of what is Britain’s only World Heritage city. By regeneration we mean nothing less than the complete redevelopment of the entire recreational area, including the Rec., stretching from the Pavilion to the River Avon and beyond to Parade Gardens, and across North Parade Bridge Road to incorporate Bath Cricket Club’s ground. Read more> This redevelopment will be a memorable landmark of world repute, in harmony with the local built and natural environment. Once in place, the new development scheme will be the driver for the city of Bath achieving a sporting model of world renown. Elite and grass-root sporting partnerships, helped by the dramatic improvement in facilities, will stimulate the local community to increase their sporting involvement and endeavour, with the consequent social benefit and health improvement. What part will Team Bath play? Team Bath has a flourishing reputation, both nationally and internationally, for elite sports development. And it has demonstrated conclusively that first class facilities are a pre-requisite to achieving sporting progress. Whilst Team Bath will always focus on its primary purpose of developing elite sportsmen and women, there are substantial opportunities for mutual benefit arising from greater association and cooperation between the City and Team Bath. Team Bath’s ambition and potential contribution to Britain’s sporting achievement is already being restricted by space limitations at its campus on the edge of the city. The Bath Sport Group believes strongly that Team Bath should be an integral part of the sporting vision of the city, including the shared use of new facilities. Team Bath may be located at the City’s margin but its crucial importance to the City’s sporting future should place it at the very heart of Bath’s sporting vision. top