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One year to go until Birmingham 2022

With just 365 days until the next Commonwealth Games, we detail our commitment to creating a lasting legacy.

28th July 2021

As Birmingham marks one year to go until the 2022 Commonwealth Games, we’re committing to maximising the impact of the Games at a grassroots level.

The 22nd edition of the Commonwealth Games will get under way on 28 July 2022, and the organising committee has five core mission pillars it’s hoping to achieve – one of them being the improvement of people’s health and wellbeing.

As an organisation we’re supporting the development of facilities for the event and regional legacy plans designed to help get people active.

Children in Birmingham play 3x3 basketball at celebrations to mark two years until Birmingham 2022

The Games present a huge opportunity to take steps towards making activity more accessible to all, and for our executive director of property, Charles Johnston, it’s important we live up to our strategy promise.

“With only a year to go until the Games begin, we have started working to fulfil the pledge in our Uniting the Movement strategy to leave a lasting Commonwealth Games legacy,” he said.

“The investment we are making into both the West Midlands and the wider country is a commitment to tackle inequality, bring communities together and provide young people with positive experiences of sport and physical activity.”

In order to help make activity more accessible to all and to work on the big issues highlighted in our Uniting the Movement strategy, we’ll be investing nearly £30 million - a combination of National Lottery and government funding - to help remove the barriers faced by communities that traditionally find it harder to be active.

Part of that investment will see £3m going to the Commonwealth Active Communities programme in the Black Country, Coventry, Birmingham and Solihull, which will support people to move more on a daily basis, where they live.

The investment we are making into both the West Midlands and the wider country is a commitment to tackle inequality.

Charles Johnston

Executive director of property, Sport England

There’s also more than £8m being invested into local infrastructure – including Sandwell Aquatics Centre and the Cannock Chase bike trails – to not only provide world-class facilities for the Games themselves, but also accessible facilities for local communities to use and enjoy afterwards.

One of our five big issues from Uniting the Movement is about connecting communities, and in addition to funding, we’re also listening to communities, grassroots organisations, volunteers and other partners in the area to understand their priorities – in order achieve our goals we need to understand what works, where investment is most needed and how to better utilise open spaces and parks for exercise.

“We are investing millions into world class facilities for the Games which will be accessible for local communities to use and enjoy afterwards,” Charles added.

“And to support the athletes of the future, we're investing funding into Team England with a focus on helping young talent from under-represented backgrounds on their journey into our national team."

Another of our big issues is creating positive experiences for children and young people, as such, £4.4m has been invested into the School Games. The funding will go towards engaging and encouraging more children to get involved with the Games, which offer a wide range of physical activity and provide extra resources for schools.

And a further £5m is being invested in the next generation of potential Commonwealth Games coaches and athletes of the future – with the aim of helping to create more representative national teams.

Birmingham 2022

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