Lisburn City Council (LCC) has recently commissioned a third Strata Survey of young people aged between 11 and 16. This, 2007 commission follows comparable processes in 2001 and 2004.

In 2001, Knight Kavanagh & Page (KKP) conducted the first Strata Survey with 11-16 years olds that lived, or attended school, in the City. It was used to gain insight into young people's activity levels, attitudes to sport, and knowledge about local opportunities and facilities.

A similar survey was undertaken in 2004 enabling the impact of Council and partners' interventions and services on levels of participation to be compared over time.

The 2004 survey quantified the participation rates of young people in sport as well as gathering data on health and lifestyle. Examples of headline data collected include:

• In Year 7 82.2% of young people take part in extracurricular sport.
• The top 10 most attractive extracurricular sports for boys and/or girls in Year 9 include rugby, athletics, badminton, jogging and hockey.
• Of young people in Year 11 66.7% have visited a local leisure centre within the past four weeks; the Lisburn Omniplex generating highest awareness.

Comparisons over time

The general trend for Lisburn between 2001 and 2004 were typified by:

• An increase in the number of young people that visited a park, recreation ground or play area four or more times a week.
• Fewer young people considered themselves to be unfit or very unfit.
• Consistency in terms of the most popular activities during lessons, extracurricular, at a sports club and informally.
• A slight decrease in the number of young people that joined sports club or attending a regularly organised activity.

A notable exception was the increased significance of dance and swimming for girls during lessons.

Benchmarking

In recent years KKP has delivered Strata Surveys for over 100 local authorities and LEAs, providing significant benchmarking for local authorities such as Lisburn. When comparing the City to results from its databank it was found that, compared to national averages:

• Extracurricular participation is strong.
• Sports club membership/regular attendance at physical activity outside school is consistent with national figures.
• Lisburn has a relatively high proportion of young people who are poor swimmers or cannot swim.
• Leisure centre usage in Lisburn is low.

Based on the data collected in the 2001 and 2004 surveys, KKP recommended a series of actions including:

• Placing continued focus on development of school-club links, seeing this transition as crucial to the future health and well-being of all individuals, not just those with a particular sporting talent.
• Examining and promote initiatives to increase participation and swimming lessons in areas of, and among groups with, low swimming ability.
• Exploring activities such as keep fit, exercise to music and related activities to attract and retain a broader range of young people, in particular girls.

The 2007 survey will be part of the process via which the City evaluates the success of the actions taken. Brendan Courtney, Sports Development Manager, was responsible for commissioning the work. He believes that the bank of management information built up by KKP over time is now integral to informing Council strategy and policy.

In addition to being a primary driver of council policy in this area and a basis for its partnership work with schools, clubs and other agencies, it has supported the acquisition of funding for a Community Sport Programme (£150,000). It was also a contributing factor to Lisburn City Council becoming the first Sports Development Unit in Northern Ireland to achieve Quest Accreditation.