Living an active lifestyle is becoming more accessible for people in Caerphilly county borough thanks to numerous investments made in the last year.
‘Improve awareness, access, variety and use of leisure, community and sporting facilities’ was one of Caerphilly County Borough Council’ s key improvement objectives for 2013/14.
Members of the council’s Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee have been told that the council’s Sport and Leisure Service Team have made good progress against this important area of work.
Over the last six months the council has taken strides to improve facilities across the county borough, with a brand new Centre for Sporting Excellence officially launched in May as the official training home of the Newport Gwent Dragons and a full programme of use for academy teams and community clubs in place.
Investment was also made in improving existing facilities and introducing a 5-a-side 3G arena at Risca Leisure Centre. This investment has helped the number of users at this centre double and the membership levels at the centre reach record levels with the 5-a-side arena being very well used by both Risca Comprehensive School and the local community.
A loyalty scheme for Leisure Centre customers was also set up, with the first customers to reap the rewards claiming their free sessions and memberships during the last six months. People signing up to the SmartCard, which gives them access to all Leisure Centres in the county borough, has also exceeded the target of 112,000.
The Sport Development Team, Sport Caerphilly, have also smashed targets in terms of participation in their sessions and events. Visitor numbers have reached over 87,000 compared to 78,000 in 2012/13, which was the official Olympic Legacy year with many Olympic themed events running.
While positive progress has been made in many aspects of the council’s work in increasing activity levels for residents of the county borough, the council has still identified room for improvement. The areas for development include increasing the focus on encouraging community club engagement and introducing specialist swimming teachers to increase the percentage of children aged 11 who are able to swim 25 metres to meet the National Standard.
Cllr Dave Poole, Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Community and Leisure Services, said: “The Sport and Leisure Team at the council have demonstrated their commitment to increasing the health of our residents by giving them more, and better, opportunities to get active. Although we acknowledge that there is still work to do to improve our facilities and service further, it is encouraging that targets are being met and evidence from National Surveys such as the School Sport Survey and the Active Adults Survey can show that more and more people are getting active in the county borough.”
