Sport and physical activity
In our Corporate Plan 2025-2028, we set out our commitment to:
“Work with partner organisations to develop a sports strategy for Cheltenham, to improve and further develop sport provision and help ensure more opportunities for external funding in order to improve health and wellbeing opportunities for local people”
Vision
In 2023, we worked with stakeholders, including local clubs and national governing bodies, to develop an overarching vision for physical activity and sport that was agreed by cabinet in July that year.
We also committed to updating our playing pitch and built leisure and sports facilities strategies. These strategies provide a picture of current infrastructure and how well it meets future needs, along with a set of recommendations to improve provision.
Work on the supporting strategies began in July 2023, with work on the built leisure and sports facilities strategy being reported to cabinet in April 2024. The playing pitch strategy was prepared on a longer timeframe to enable the full assessment of both winter and summer sports provision. This was presented to cabinet in July 2024.
Built leisure facilities strategy
The built leisure and sports facilities strategy provides an updated evidence base to support investment into the town’s physical leisure infrastructure to meet the sport and recreation needs of Cheltenham now and into the future. This includes swimming pools, athletics tracks, sports halls and tennis facilities.
Playing pitch strategy
The playing pitch strategy similarly provides an updated evidence base to support investment into the town's sports pitches that are used for football, rugby, cricket, hockey and lacrosse.
Physical activity and sports action plan
In May 2025, we adopted a sports and physical activity action plan which has been developed to respond to the recommendations from the playing pitch and built leisure and sports facilities strategies. It also includes information from demographic data and recent consultations. The action plan is structured against three outcomes:
- Our physical and community infrastructure is accessible and affordable but also high-quality and sustainable
- Cheltenham is a place where all our communities enjoy and benefit from physical activity and
- We will collaborate to create active and inclusive communities