Portsmouth Gets Barclays Spaces For Sports Boost

Portsmouth has become the latest recipient of the Barclays Spaces for Sports
community programme after a new £600,000 sports site was opened at Bransbury
Park.

Following a £600,000 cash injection from Barclays and the Football
Foundation, the venue has benefited from a new artificial grass pitch, four
improved full-sized grass football pitches, renovation of a basketball area, a
resurfaced netball and tennis area and a new skate park.

The site, less than a mile from Premier League club Portsmouth’s Fratton Park
stadium, will provide a range of activities for the local community and will
also support the Up-Front/Positive Futures projects in Milton and Eastney, which
use sport and leisure activities to aid the development of young people aged
10-19 years. 

The site is part of a £30m investment from the Barclays Spaces for Sports
initiative to create sustainable sports facilities across the UK. The project
will receive a further £45,000 from Barclays to ensure the sustainability of the
site plus kit and equipment worth £5,000.

Since the announcement of the scheme in September 2004, Barclays Spaces for
Sports has opened more than 160 sites and awarded 3,600 coaching packs to local
communities up and down the country, giving over 440,000 disadvantaged people
the opportunity to benefit from sport.