The National Association of elected officials in charge of Sport has sent “an alert point” to the Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Agency believing that the 200 million euros in scheduled credits will not be sufficient.
by Philippe le Coeur
This is the ransom of success. The “Macron Plan” of creation-renovation of five thousand local sports equipment, announced in October 2021, less than three years old from the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP), meets such an echo with the municipalities that the state credits which are there devolved promise to be insufficient.
This is the message that local elected officials have just conveyed to government. “We have made an alert point to the Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Agency [which manages this project] because the programmed budgetary volume will not be sufficient. We are waiting for the answer,” explains Vincent Saulnier, the secretary General of the National Association of Elected Elected Sports (Andes).
The “Macron Plan” benefits from 200 million euros in credits on 2022 and 2023. It was launched because the preparation for the reception of games recalled a reality: the inequalities are strong in the country from then on that it is a question of accessing a sporting practice, and this is due, among other things, to a deficit in sports facilities – coupled with pronounced aging of the existing park.
According to an assessment established in early October by the National Sport Agency, “85 million euros” were paid to co -finance (between 50 % and 80 % of the total amount) 2,089 equipment whose vocation is to be In free access, whether multisport trays, fitness spaces, or skateparks, or basketball courts of three players against three…
The Andes argues that demand will increase because “the scope of this plan has been extended” and that “many communities will also mobilize in the coming months”.
Initially, the system was only targeted in the so -called deficient territories, priority districts of city policy and rural revitalization areas. At the request of communities, it will be opened, in 2023, “to all territories”.
a bonus “so that it is less gendered”
At the end of the year, which will be the occasion for a first assessment of the plan, the Andes also believes that “special attention” must be paid on two points: the typology of funded equipment and that of users.
“In the first wave of funding, there are a lot of multisport equipment, of City Stade type, and few more specialized equipment [3 × 3 basketball grounds or 4 × 4 hand, badminton or badminton grounds or de Padel, Pumptracks for mountain biking and BMX, mobile swimming pools…]. We will therefore have to increase this specialization, “notes Vincent Saulnier.
The other challenge will be to ensure that the equipment that is installed by the municipalities are less oriented towards a male audience than they are currently. “It is quite gendered indeed and it is a subject that we wear,” explains Vincent Saulnier.
The observation and demand for an evolution on this subject are also shared by the Association of Departments of France where it is recalled that one of the challenges with these local equipment is that they are accessible to the most many, starting with young girls.
A solution, advance Vincent Saulnier, could consist in setting up “a bonus” in terms of funding granted by the years to future files relating to local equipment “so that it is less gendered”.