Reduced leisure hours and poverty locking local children out of sport, Senedd told

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Children in Wales are being priced and frozen out of playing sports due to leisure centre cuts and soaring costs, politicians have warned.

Reform MS Catherine Cullen highlighted the plight of Cefn Fforest Leisure Centre during cross-chamber questioning in the Senedd, and said reduced opening hours have led to a “massive decline” in visitor numbers.

Speaking to culture and sport minister Heledd Fychan, Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni MS Ms Cullen pointed out that 49% of children in Blaenau Gwent experience income deprivation.

Ms Cullen said: “Behind every lost visit, as we know, is a child disengaging from sport, a missed opportunity and potential left unfulfilled.”

She called on the minister to prioritise funding for “vital existing facilities” in deprived communities rather than directing investment to better-served areas.

In response, Ms Fychan acknowledged the systemic barriers families face and said: “Fewer clubs can afford to get minibuses, where they may have done so in the past. These are challenges and there are no overnight solutions.”

She added: “In our first 100 days in government, we commissioned an investigation into sports facilities across Wales, and through Sport Wales, we are investing in affordable local opportunities – supporting community clubs to improve facilities with targeted action to reach those who face the greatest barriers to participation.”

Financial Barriers

Concerns over rising fees were echoed across the chamber. Labour’s equalities spokesperson Shav Taj warned venue and court hire costs are rapidly pricing out grassroots clubs and working-class families.

Ms Taj acknowledged there has been some sport investment in her area, describing the refurbishment of the outdoor courts of Roath Pleasure Gardens as a “genuine game-changer”.

She quizzed the minister on how the Welsh Government can ensure “a young person’s opportunity to play sport is determined by their talent and ambition, not their postcode or their parents’ ability to cough up”.

Responding, Ms Fychan said the government has made participation in sport “central” to its work on the new child poverty strategy.

She said: “We all know of the barriers in place. We all know that the participation gap is widening, reliant on family income, and that’s not how it should be.”

Transport

Plaid Cymru MS Zaynub Akbar highlighted “infrequent and expensive” public transport links as a key barrier for young people accessing sport- and asked what the Welsh Government is doing to address this.

Ms Fychan replied: “If people can’t access sport and can’t participate, then they’re going to cost more to the health service be that because of mental health or physical health.

“So, that preventative side is crucially important, but I do recognise that these challenges are very real.

“We’re not going to change this overnight, but we do have to move to a preventative agenda here in Wales, and that is this government’s commitment.”