Indoor and Outdoor Sport and Leisure Facilities

There are a good number of indoor and outdoor facilities located across Southampton that cater for a range of sports activities.  These include, but are not limited to, natural and artificial grass pitches, Multi-Use Games Areas (MUGAs), tennis courts, bowling greens, leisure centres, swimming pools, gyms, and sports halls. These provide residents of the City and the wider region the opportunity to participate in sport and undertake physical activity that is important for health and wellbeing.  

Active Nation run a number of sports facilities on behalf of the Council as part of a successful long-term partnership that has been running since 2010. Other sports facilities in the city are run by schools (including those made publicly available through Community Use Agreements), colleges, the universities and private operators such as Goals Southampton. 

The provision of high quality indoor and outdoor sports facilities is needed to serve a growing population and support increased participation in sport and recreation. The need to protect existing open space, including outdoor playing pitches, in order to also address this issue is dealt with elsewhere in Policy EN4: Existing Open Space.