The thought piece below is a comprehensive assessment of the future of the UK's local authority sport and leisure sector by Martyn Allison. With over 40 years spent in local government, Martyn is former Assistant Chief Executive of Leicester City Council and a former national advisor for culture and sport with the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and Local Government Improvement and Development (LGID). He is currently Chair of Trustees with the Big Difference Company and the Director of Management Improvement Services.

In his article, Martyn argues that the sector is at a key point in its future development, emphasising the importance of the role of sport and physical activity in health and wellbeing and how this can help secure the future of leisure services in the face of austerity. As it is inevitable that public expenditure at both the local and national levels will be reduced, the challenges for sport and leisure will be significant, with efficiency and effectiveness the primary goals for leisure providers, all of whom will need new business models to survive.

Martyn proposes a new, integrated model for sport and leisure provision and 6 key steps necessary for its achievement:

1. All the key organisations responsible for the delivery of the new model need to sign up to a common vision for the future.

2. Sport England must maintain their financial and professional support to the facility rationalisation programme, their work on health and commissioning and their support for Quest & the National Benchmarking Service, NGBs, CSPs and CIMSPA.

3. We need a coordinated programme of leadership development for senior managers across the sector.

4. We need a coordinated programme of management skills development that enables all providers to deliver both demand-led and subsidy-free universal services.

5. Quest and the National Benchmarking Service need to develop further to become the sector quality assurance scheme that assesses performance, value for money and supports continuous improvement in the sport sector.

6. Where appropriate and particularly in two-tier council areas CSPs need tro adopt a "brokering" role between the commissioners and the complex provider market.

As a part of our ongoing analysis of the future of sports policy leading up to the general election next year, we would value your comments and insights: where you may agree or disagree with Martyn. Please do respond below.

A link to a PDF of he full article is below.