BURNLEY Football Club's community project should be replicated nationwide, Sports Minister Kate Hoey has been told.

The town's MP Peter Pike hailed the Turf Moor scheme as a blueprint for the rest of the country in the Commons.

And now he wants Ms Hoey to come and see the project for herself as part of a drive to get more people in deprived areas to watch and take part in sport.

Mr Pike wants other professional football clubs to model community schemes on Burnley's and also wants more sports clubs at local, grass roots level to run similar, smaller-scale schemes.

He asked Ms Hoey in the Commons: "Do you agree that people living in areas of social exclusion and poverty often cannot participate in sport or afford to watch it?

"Is it not vital for lottery and government funds to be used to aid projects such as the community project launched by Burnley Football Club, and, indeed, to descend to the grass roots in tackling the problem of those suffering social exclusion?" Ms Hoey said :"You are right. The lottery has a real role in the distribution of funds to sport, especially in getting money to where it is most needed."

Mr Pike said: "The community project at Burnley Football Club is very good. The Professional Footballer's Association and others say it is one of the best in the country.

"I would like to see Lottery money made available for more such schemes.

"The Turf Moor scheme could be a blueprint for other professional football clubs. I would like to see more such schemes nationwide, but with many at grass roots level involving local sports clubs.

"Sport is very important in tackling problems of poverty, deprivation and social exclusion.

"I am asking Kate Hoey to come a see the success of the Burnley project herself and why it should be repeated elsewhere."

He said the scheme, in the old Gymnasium at Turf Moor which had been completely refurbished as a multi-purpose community centre, would itself need extra funding when the current Lottery grant ran out.

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