Sunderland children 'digging tunnels' to sports facilities they can't afford to use highlighted amid calls for better access

Councillors have urged more Sunderland schools to allow ‘free use’ of their sports facilities to help support families during the cost of living crisis.

Access to sports activities were the focus of a recent meeting of Sunderland City Council’s North Sunderland Area Committee, with several councillors having their say.

The discussion was sparked following an update from the area’s voluntary and community sector, which councillors heard was under pressure with some families being “priced out” of taking part in organised sports.

While it was acknowledged that some schools open their sports facilities up to children outside of term time, concerns were raised about the number of school sports facilities being ‘franchised out”.

It was noted that affordability could be a barrier to some children accessing physical activity during school holidays.

Councillor Denny Wilson, North Sunderland Area Committee chair, said some access issues were linked to several school sports facilities being “franchised out but not coming to the local community”.

He added: “Kids are standing looking through fences at fabulous facilities and they’re not allowed on them.

“At one time the police were called because the kids dug a tunnel under the fence, not to break into the school, just to play football.

“Something should be done”.

Councillor Michael Hartnack, Fulwell ward member, credited Monkwearmouth Academy leaders for being “extremely generous with their facilities” and said that if “one school can do it, then why can’t all schools do it”.

Cllr Hartnack continued: “That also creates an opportunity of a cost-free option or minimal cost [option] to actually provide facilities that kids are craving for”.

Councillor Michael Butler, Southwick ward representative, noted the council was supporting working families to allow access to sporting activities.

However he also raised concerns about more families potentially being “disenfranchised” as the cost of living crisis and rising interest rates continue to bite.

The comments were made during a meeting of the North Sunderland Area Committee on June 22, 2023, at City Hall.

Councillor Denny Wilson, chair of the area committee, agreed more schools across the city could do their bit to help families and raised concerns about some state-of-the-art facilities not being used.

Cllr Wilson said: “Monkwearmouth Academy are like a flagship of what schools should be because they realise that once the education time is finished those kids that come out of school are still their kids in a way.

“They know that any bad behaviour brings the police in the next day and all the rest of it, so they help offset that by opening up all these facilities.

“Other schools should learn from that school […] with the financial climate and kids getting disenfranchised now everything is just getting beyond belief.

“I’m involved with Castletown Scouts and it’s run all by volunteers but you can’t escape the electricity, insurance and rates going up and it does impact on families.

“We have got to look at it but the schools, we’ve got state-of-the art facilities in our schools that are not being used”.

Councillor Kelly Chequer, Southwick ward representative, said affordability issues around access to sport had public health implications and should be looked into further.

The councillor, who is also the city council’s cabinet member for Healthy City, said it was especially important in light of recent city-wide child obesity statistics from December, 2022.

Data showed that 45% of children in year six and 25.3% of children in reception were overweight or obese, which were both a “deterioration” from previous figures.

Councillors also heard that around 26.8% of under 16s in Sunderland were living in low income families, which is higher than both the North East and England levels.

Cllr Chequer continued: “It’s really concerning what’s being said about sport and activity becoming unaffordable for people.

“I think we really need to listen to that and do something about that, because clearly the statistics are telling us that actually this is about public health as much as it is about anything else”.