Astley School was awarded Sports College status in September 2002, making it, at the time, the only specialist sports college in the Borough of Tameside. This stimulated the School to expand its already significant input to the development of sport in Tameside.

KKP was commissioned by the College to provide consultancy support for a Sport England Lottery Fund application.

It provided design input and a business, management and sports development plan for the project to develop a large four badminton court sports hall, suitable for accommodating wheelchair basketball amongst other significant sports. The plan details the demand for, the feasibility of, and the planned management proposals for the development of sport and recreational facilities. It includes comprehensive capital estimates and outlines the business case that supports the application.

To support the process, detailed, supplementary one-to-one interviews with key providers/potential providers of sporting opportunity in the area were carried out. This included representatives of the local community, primary schools, existing facility users and voluntary sector sports clubs.

The project will meet the extensive demonstrated demand for specific sports facilities and programmes and cater for the additional latent demand in the local community.

It will further develop the partnership with Tameside MBC, Tameside Sports Development Groups, the LTA, local groups, sports clubs and community representatives and provide a focal point for the development of sports provision for people with disabilities in conjunction with Cromwell Special School.