As Sport England calls for National Lottery Good Cause funding to continue supporting sport and physical activity, Active Lincolnshire is highlighting how investment is helping communities overcome barriers, tackle inequalities and create lasting opportunities for people to be active.

Sport England has welcomed the opportunity to shape the future of National Lottery Good Cause funding, making a strong case for continued investment in sport and physical activity and greater involvement of local communities in deciding how funding is used.

Responding to the Government's Fund What Matters to You consultation, Sport England Chief Executive Simon Hayes emphasised the extraordinary contribution National Lottery funding has made to communities over the past 30 years, while setting out an ambition for investment to become increasingly community-led, accessible and focused on tackling inequalities.

Sport England's response highlights the wider value of sport and physical activity, which generated an estimated £122.9 billion in social value in England during 2023/24, equivalent to £4.38 for society and the economy for every £1 invested.

But its message goes beyond the financial return. Sport England argues that the greatest impact comes when national investment and expertise are combined with local knowledge, trusted relationships and communities having a genuine voice in shaping their own futures.

For Active Lincolnshire, this approach reflects the work already taking place across the county, particularly through our Place Partnerships in Boston, East Lindsey and South Holland.

Supported by Sport England National Lottery funding, we are working alongside communities, local authorities, health organisations, schools, charities and activity providers to understand what prevents people from being active and, together, develop solutions that respond to local needs.

Through six case studies, we are sharing how this investment is supporting not only participation in physical activity, but also stronger partnerships, workforce development, safeguarding, health and wellbeing, and better-informed local decision-making.

Read Sport England's response to the consultation

Putting people and place at the heart of investment

One of the strongest messages from Sport England's response is that communities should have greater influence over how funding is used. This is central to Active Lincolnshire's Place approach.

Across Boston, East Lindsey and South Holland, we recognise that people's opportunities to be active are shaped by much more than the availability of a sports club or leisure facility.

Transport, affordability, confidence, accessibility, health inequalities and rural isolation can all influence whether someone feels able to participate.

Our role is to work with communities and partners to better understand these challenges and help create the conditions in which being active becomes easier, more accessible and part of everyday life.

In South Holland, we have recorded more than 641 community engagement interactions, including 521 involving children, young people and families. In Boston, engagement with more than 200 children and families is helping inform local priorities and decision-making.

In East Lindsey, our work includes engagement with residents and stakeholders to understand the experiences of people living with diabetes.

These conversations matter because they help ensure investment is informed by lived experience rather than assumptions about what communities need. Importantly, this is not about delivering isolated projects. It’s about developing relationships, strengthening local leadership and supporting long-term change.

Read our case study: National Lottery funding and place-based work in Lincolnshire

Connecting physical activity with better health and wellbeing

Sport England's response recognises physical activity as an important contributor to healthier people, stronger communities and reduced pressure on public services.

In Lincolnshire, we are seeing how investment in local skills and partnerships can help people overcome barriers associated with long-term health conditions, mobility challenges and confidence.

One example is our work to develop inclusive pathways through seated exercise in Boston and East Lindsey. For many people completing rehabilitation or structured health programmes, moving into community-based activity can feel like a significant step.

By supporting specialist instructor training and working with partners including Magna Vitae, we’re helping create more accessible opportunities for residents to continue being active.

This includes supporting instructors to develop the expertise needed to work confidently with people who might otherwise find traditional activity environments difficult to access.

The wider ambition is to strengthen connections between health services and community opportunities, helping people maintain their wellbeing, independence and social connections over time.

Read our case study: Improving health and wellbeing for Lincolnshire residents

Investing in the people who make activity possible

Behind every successful community activity is a network of people with the skills, knowledge and confidence to make it happen.

National Lottery support is helping Active Lincolnshire strengthen that network through workforce development, training and partnerships.

Our Active Skills Hub provides a central gateway to training, employment, events and career opportunities across the sector.

Alongside this, our work has helped secure £123,480 through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, supporting 127 qualifications and engaging 118 unique learners across Boston, East Lindsey and South Holland.

This complementary investment demonstrates how National Lottery-supported partnerships and infrastructure can help attract and connect additional resources to local priorities.

Developing a skilled workforce is particularly important in communities where opportunities may be limited or where organisations rely heavily on volunteers.

Read our case study: Skills and workforce development

Creating safer, stronger and more resilient communities

Making physical activity accessible also means ensuring people feel safe, welcomed and supported.

Through our safeguarding and welfare work, 20 clubs have accessed specialist learning, with 97% of learners reporting that they felt better equipped to carry out their roles.

Our Be Safe, Have Fun campaign, developed with young people and safeguarding partners, is also helping children understand what safe, positive experiences in sport should look like. Alongside this, National Lottery investment supports our work to strengthen the wider sport and physical activity sector.

Through initiatives including the Lincolnshire Sport and Physical Activity Network, we are bringing organisations together to share knowledge, respond to common challenges and develop more sustainable opportunities.

This matters because a resilient sector is better placed to support communities, particularly when organisations face financial pressures, workforce shortages and increasing demand.

Read our case studies: Safeguarding and welfare | Supporting a resilient sport and physical activity sector

Learning what works and making investment count

A further priority highlighted by Sport England is the importance of demonstrating impact without placing unnecessary burdens on smaller organisations and volunteers.

At Active Lincolnshire, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) is embedded across our work. By combining local data, community insight and shared learning, we can better understand where barriers exist, what is changing and how partners can adapt their approaches.

Our community engagement work on the Beacon Estate in Skegness demonstrates this in practice. Working with Lincolnshire County Council, we gathered insight from residents, young people, schools and community stakeholders about physical activity, green space and wellbeing. This helped inform a Pride in Place investment proposal, demonstrating how listening to communities can contribute to wider decisions about neighbourhoods and local investment.

It’s an important reminder that measuring success should not simply be about counting activities or attendance. It must also consider whether we’re improving opportunities, strengthening partnerships and addressing the conditions that contribute to inequality.

Read our case study: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

Building on the National Lottery's legacy

The Government's consultation presents an important opportunity to consider how National Lottery Good Cause funding can continue delivering meaningful benefits for communities.

Sport England's response makes a compelling case for retaining national expertise while giving local people and organisations greater influence over investment. Our experience across Lincolnshire reinforces that position.

Sustainable change requires more than short-term programmes. It requires trusted relationships, community involvement, skilled people, strong organisations and a shared commitment to tackling the barriers that prevent people from being active. National Lottery funding is helping make that possible.

As we continue our work across Boston, East Lindsey, South Holland and the wider county, our focus remains on working with communities and partners to ensure physical activity contributes to healthier, more connected and more resilient places.

Because the lasting value of National Lottery funding is not simply the activities it supports today, but the opportunities, relationships and stronger communities it helps create for tomorrow.

Explore the impact of National Lottery funding in Lincolnshire

Discover our six case studies and learn more about how National Lottery funding, through Sport England, is helping Active Lincolnshire and our partners make a difference across the county.

Explore our National Lottery impact case studies

Find out more about our Place work across Lincolnshire.