The legacy begins: £30m boost for sport at grassroots

Six community projects are to become the first beneficiaries of Boris Johnson's £30 million scheme to boost sports participation as a legacy of the London Olympics.

Judo, boxing, tennis, swimming, disabled sport and "street" athletic groups will receive backing as the Mayor seeks to fulfil his election pledge that benefits of the 2012 Games are delivered at grassroots level.

The first six projects will receive their grants at the end of a statutory tender process next month.

Devised by City Hall sports commissioner Kate Hoey, the Sporting Future scheme aims to improve facilities and coaching but to reduce inactivity in London where only one in five adults regularly plays sport.

Mr Johnson commissioned today's sports strategy to improve these below-average levels of participation and he believes this will also combat obesity and youth crime.

Much is at stake for the Mayor whose other election pledge — to cut the 2012 construction bill — proved impractical and threatened the building timetable. Meanwhile, the cornerstone of his Games legacy — a sports university in the Olympic Park — remains on the drawing board.

Mr Johnson has provided £15.5 million towards sports legacy from London Development Agency coffers.

A similar sum will be taken from the commercial sector and other public bodies to take the total to £31 million over the next three years. The major source will be Sport England, a government agency with an annual budget of £120 million to boost sports participation by one million people by 2013.

Although this sum is insufficient for major new facilities such as swimming pools and running tracks, its aim is to ensure the best existing projects, such as a tennis coaching scheme on council courts, are adopted by other boroughs. The board will also attempt to organise local sport better, for example, by unifying London's five community basketball schemes.

It will also use the findings of a facilities audit to plug provision. Key to this aim will be to rotate mobile pools among boroughs with fewer permanent public baths.

Efforts to produce a 2012 sports legacy will be overseen by a London Community Sports Board chaired by Ms Hoey and will be formed next month.

Launching the scheme at Croydon Judo Club today, Mr Johnson sought to distance himself from the priorities of Ken Livingstone, who stressed the 2012 project as a means of redistributing wealth to the east of London.

The Mayor said: "We have a unique opportunity to set in place a lasting legacy for sport provision across the capital.

"This is an opportunity to increase participation and activity, tackle health inequalities and bring the capital's communities together."

Ms Hoey added: "We are determined to use this investment to add value to ongoing work and to make real improvements at the grassroots of sport."