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When the States approved annual funding of £250,000 for the Active 8 plan just under three years ago it was described as “a great day for sport in Guernsey” but that funding now looks set to be slashed to just £84,000 a year.
The Active 8 Plan for Sport - the island's first government-backed sports strategy - was approved in August 2020.
With eight key objectives aimed at encouraging people to be more active by developing accessible facilities and supporting existing clubs the Guernsey Sports Commission and Education, Sport and Culture said it would be part of the island's 'revive and thrive' strategy post covid.
Now however, the funding allocated to the Guernsey Sports Commission for the Active 8 strategy could be reduced as part of wider government efforts to manage budgets.
A 'mid-term reset' of the Government Work Plan has been proposed by Policy and Resources following the States' failure to agree any new revenue raising measures of note during the Tax Review debate earlier this year.
P&R says it now has to re-work the list of capital projects requiring funding, as well as limiting spending in other areas.
Next month the States will debate changes to the GWP including "enhancing the use of effective commissioning". That will see many things identified as a 'nice to have' rather than 'essential services' cut.
Among those areas proposed for cutbacks is the budget allocated to the Active 8 project over the six years up to 2030.
While it currently receives £250,000 a year, under a ten year agreement, next year's funds could be cut to £123,600 next year and £82,400 for each of the following five years.
Deputy Andy Cameron - an amateur triathlete in his personal life - is a member of ESC, which oversees the Sports Commission, and he is ESC's lead on sport. He's hoping to stop the cuts from happening.
"I am very disappointed that cuts to the Active 8 budget has been chosen, I think this decision has been made without the full understanding of the consequences," he said.
"The Sports Commission’s preliminary talks with officers initially asked for £500k for the Active8 budget but were discouraged from bringing this request to the committee as it wasn’t realistic in the current economic climate, they decided instead to apply for half this amount under the impression that this was realistic. To come away with just 16% (£82k) of the original amount is just ridiculous, find me another service that has had these sort of cuts applied?"
Deputy Cameron is working on his plans to stop this level of reduction and says the support he has received already could mean it's a waste of time even debating the proposed cut based on the level of opposition it may face on the day.
"I have already been contacted by more than enough deputies willing to sign a requete, it’s still early days so I’d rather not disclose who the petitioners will be until I know the exact numbers who are going to back it, unsurprisingly I have support from both sides of the Assembly.
"I’m certain that I do have the numbers to support the requete, so this whole proposal is likely to be nothing more than a drain of States members time when we have much more vital items to debate (housing, hospital, schools)."
Pictured: John Ravenscroft is Chairman of the Sports Commission. In 2020 he said he was "absolutely delighted" with the States decision to approve the Active 8 funding and said it was “heartening to see so many of our elected representatives recognising the importance of sport for our mental and physical health".
The Guernsey Sports Commission uses the Active 8 funding to pay for things like staff, street sports sessions and equipment.
It says any changes to the previously agreed funding levels will need to be considered carefully before anyone can comment.
"The Guernsey Sports Commission has been advised of the proposed future level of funding towards the Active 8 Plan for Sport as outlined in the revised Government Work Plan and needs time to consider how and where this may impact our work.
"We look forward to continuing to discuss the funding proposals with the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture and until then do not wish to say anything more publicly until these discussions have concluded."
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