Bath and North East Somerset Council (B&NES) has appointed Knight, Kavanagh & Page (KKP) to provide a PPG17 compliant sport and recreation facilities assessment for the area.

The assessment and subsequent strategy will identify actions that contribute to delivery of its 10 years Community Strategy. This contains clear ambitions to promote social, economic and environmental well-being in the area. It highlights five shared ambitions, six improvement ambitions and 42 specific actions, which will be implemented by B&NES and its partners. KKP's sport and recreation assessment will, in line with PPG17, provide a clear strategic pathway for improvement, investment and protection of the Authority's indoor and outdoor sport and recreational facilities.

KKP has become the leading authority in the field of sport and recreation in the South West. Its unique approach is characterised by the quality of its comprehensive, all-inclusive process for non-technical visual assessments together with a bespoke scoring mechanism for non-pitch and built facilities developed from the comparable approach adopted for open spaces and playing pitches. Jonathan Woods manages KKP's South West office and has recently led on similar assignments for other South West local authorities including open space, sport and recreation studies for South Somerset District Council, West Somerset Council and Weymouth & Portland Borough Council. He has also assisted a number of other councils in the region to produce their own built facilities assessments.

This expertise is also recognised by Sport England South West, who recently asked Jonathan to present to local authorities in the Region on development of minimum provision standards for sport and recreation facilities. Marc Higgins from B&NES attended the presentation and will manage the assessment process. Commenting on KKP's appointment, he said, "We are delighted to be employing the expertise of KKP to do this project. We have used the Company to deliver a range of strategic planning assignments in the past. It knows the Authority and demonstrated the quality of its community consultation, fieldwork and strategic planning expertise. It will lead to a robust assessment and help to inform future provision for the residents of the area."

For further details, please contact:

Jonathan Woods

Principal Consultant