What is Local Sports Infrastructure Fund?
The Local Sports Infrastructure Fund is a $22 million state-wide competitive Victorian Government investment program that funds the development of high-quality, accessible community sport and active recreation infrastructure.
Background
The Local Sports Infrastructure Fund replaces the Community Sports Infrastructure Fund, Female Friendly Facilities Fund and Better Indoor Stadiums Fund and provides funding streams that support the hierarchy of community infrastructure.
The Fund promotes partnerships between the Victorian Government, Local Government Authorities (LGAs), Alpine Resort Boards, sport leagues and associations, sporting clubs, schools and community organisations to deliver the strategic directions identified in Active Victoria: A strategic framework for sport and recreation 2017 – 2021.
It is underpinned by the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions’ priorities to ensure the state’s economy benefits all Victorians by creating more jobs for more people, building thriving places and regions and nurturing inclusive communities.
Objectives
Strong, active and healthy communities need high-quality, accessible, well-designed and managed infrastructure to conduct sport and active recreation activities. Developing infrastructure that supports participation by underrepresented groups to improve wellbeing of disadvantaged Victorians and local economic activity is a priority for the Victorian Government. The Fund aims to achieve this by:
- Upgrading existing and constructing new facilities
- Developing active recreation infrastructure to increase the accessibility and diversity of physical activity opportunities.
- Encouraging flexible, multi-use, shared and integrated services and facilities.
- Fostering inclusive, diverse, accessible and responsible development through universal design, environmental sustainability, and strategically
planned facilities. - Encouraging collaboration with schools, service providers, facility managers and community organisations to deliver outcomes.
- Encouraging collaboration with state sporting associations and peak bodies to foster better decision making.
Funding
The new $22 million Local Sports Infrastructure Fund is a state-wide competitive Victorian Government investment program that provides a range of grant opportunities across five funding streams.
- Aquatic Centres and Indoor Stadiums
- Up to $2,000,000 per LGA
- Strategic Facilities
- Up to $800,000 per LGA
- Female Friendly Facilities
- Up to $500,000 is available per LGA
- Community Facilities
- Up to $250,000 per application
- Planning
- Up to $30,000 is available for Municipal Planning projects.
- Up to $50,000 is available for Regional Planning projects.
Eligible Projects
Planning Stream
Municipal Planning projects that are eligible for support include:
- Strategic recreation planning
- Planning for specific facility types such as aquatic facilities, indoor stadiums, etc
- Infrastructure and participation planning for specific sports and/or active recreation activities
- Feasibility studies for one or more significant projects.
Regional Planning projects that are eligible for support include:
- Planning for a specific sport/s across a region.
- Planning for infrastructure and active recreation activities across a region
- Comprehensive review of infrastructure across a region.
Female Friendly Facilities Stream
Female Friendly Facilities projects that are eligible for support include:
- Building new or redeveloping change rooms for participants that are female friendly.
- Building new or redeveloping sports grounds to increase capacity
- Multi-sport courts that provide for sport and active recreation participation.
- Sports lighting that increases the capacity of infrastructure.
Community Facilities Stream
Community Facilities projects that are eligible for support include:
- Playspaces, skate parks, BMX tracks, and outdoor splash parks.
- Active recreation spaces such as outdoor exercise equipment and public access outdoor courts.
- Upgrades to outdoor seasonal pools that improve accessibility and participation such as leisure water, change rooms and energy or water efficiency upgrades e.g. Heating of water spaces
- Infrastructure on school land with confirmed community use.
- Shared paths and recreation trails
- Projects that result in energy or water efficiency, with a direct impact on participation, such as warm season grass conversions.
- Multi-sport training facilities that are publicly accessible.
- Pavilion developments with unisex accessible changerooms.
- New and/or improved sports fields, sports courts and surfaces that increase capacity or safety.
- Sports lighting that improves facility capacity and participant safety. Requests for replacement of lighting with LED lights are not eligible unless part of a new lighting installation.
Strategic Facilities Stream
Strategic Facilities projects that are eligible for support include:
- Infrastructure that provides active recreation opportunities for a catchment beyond a local community such as new skate parks and playspaces
- Multi-sport precincts that include the delivery of sports fields, sports courts and pavilion/s.
- Regional sports facilities as defined by the particular sport/s (‘regional’ refers to a facility’s standing in the facility hierarchy rather than
location). - Multi-use sports pavilions that serve communities beyond a local catchment.
- Large single or multi-sport indoor facilities such as gymnastics centres that serve a catchment beyond a local community
- Large scale infrastructure on school land with confirmed community use that serve a catchment beyond a local community
Aquatic Centres and Indoor Stadiums Stream
Aquatic Centres and Indoor Stadiums projects that are eligible for support include:
- Development of new or upgrade to existing aquatic leisure centres that creates new water or dry program spaces to increase participation.
- Development of new or upgrade to existing indoor multi-sport stadiums that create new indoor courts to increase participation.
- Spaces for gymnastics, calisthenics and dance are only eligible as part of a larger stadium project with other multi-sport indoor courts.
Eligible Applicants
Only Local Government Authorities (LGAs) and the Alpine Resort Boards are eligible to apply directly to the Fund.
LGAs and Alpine Resort Boards are required to discuss their project/s with their Sport and Recreation Victoria representative before submitting their application/s to receive advice about the best funding pathway for their project/s.
Timing
Applications close 14 February 2020.
