Government pledges £1.56m to angling

Press Release from the Angling Development Board

Angling has received a £1.56 million boost this week as Sport England announced its plans to support the Governing Body to deliver angling opportunities for all over the next four years.

Last summer the Angling Development Board (ADB) was invited by Sport England to demonstrate how angling could contribute to government targets of increasing participation in active sport, especially through encouraging young people and retaining them as active participants as they grow older. Sport England also wanted to develop the talent pool of anglers trying to compete at international level and proposals to improve anglers’ satisfaction with the management of their sport: a process already underway with the formation of the Angling Trust.

David Moore, Chairman of the ADB explained. ‘The ADB responded to Sport England’s challenge with a package of proposals to grow and sustain the sport of angling. Our Plan is based on a vast amount of market research, much of it from the Environment Agency’s data from millions of rod licences and information held by Sport England right back to an NOP survey 40 years ago.

‘The first area identified was the problem of young people who are introduced to the sport but are not converted into long-term anglers. Other sports have much better links between schools, coaches, clubs and facilities whereas these are widely fragmented in angling. The funding package from Sport England will help start a regional development network which can access local and regional funding and bring schools, clubs, coaches and facilities together.

“After six months’ hard work by the ADB team, the timing of this announcement coincides perfectly with the transition of the ADB into the newly constituted Angling Trust during 2009. We are already making good progress in achieving Sport England’s recognition of The Angling Trust as the Governing Body for angling in England.’

The ADB plans to start recruiting Regional Development Officers and details will be available on our website www.anglingdevelopmentboard.org.uk during February.