The announcement this week that the Don Valley stadium in Sheffield is due for closure in September has hardly come as a total surprise to those who have followed the story. But the media and public reaction to the announcement yesterday was much greater because of the iconic status of the stadium and of course the fact that Gold medallist Jess Ennis trains there. The fact that she received her CBE from the Palace the day before added to the strength of the story.

As always the headlines don't tell the whole story and whilst I wouldn't want to rehearse all the arguments here about this particular decision It is worth asking a few questions. We have started to pick up increasing intelligence about more of this type of decision being made over the next few years as local authorities grapple with large % cuts in their budgets as well as the rising costs of Adult Social Care.

At the moment there is no statutory responsibility to provide sport or leisure for local government. In Scotland there is, although because it is not specifically designated that does not mean just making it a responsibility is enough in itself. So when local councils are looking to make savings they will increasingly have to come out of the budgets not earmarked for the provision of statutory services. So in many areas Leisure will be vulnerable if the authority does not see or understand the contribution it makes to local life and well being.

We have covered some of the background to this situation here at the Think Tank and we are grateful to Neil King for his research in 2012. However, we would be delighted to partner with other agencies to monitor this situation and share best practise of those authorities that are using innovative ideas to stave off closure and cuts in front line sports development.

We understand at the Think Tank that there is a massive focus on DCMS and what Sport England and UKSport are spending but this remains only a small percentage of total spend on the sport economy. Local government remains a massive player even with the level of cuts being contemplated. With increasing budgets at local level for Health & Wellbeing Board there is even more need to look locally and not just nationally for policy drivers.