Equality impact assessment (EIA) form: evidencing paying due regard to protected characteristics

(Form updated October 2023)

Grant Acceptance for the Football Foundation Playzones Programme to install a 2G multi-use games area at Gallows Close, Scarborough

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Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are public documents.  EIAs accompanying reports going to County Councillors for decisions are published with the committee papers on our website and are available in hard copy at the relevant meeting.  To help people to find completed EIAs we also publish them in the Equality and Diversity section of our website.  This will help people to see for themselves how we have paid due regard in order to meet statutory requirements. 

Name of Directorate and Service Area	Parks and Grounds
Lead Officer and contact details	Jonathan Clubb – Head of Parks & Grounds
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA	N/A
How will you pay due regard? e.g., working group, individual officer	Individual officer with advice from colleagues in legal team and Community Assets & Engagement Team.
When did the due regard process start?	March 2025

Section 1. Please describe briefly what this EIA is about. (e.g. are you starting a new service, changing how you do something, stopping doing something?)

The EIA covers the proposed investment in a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) that will significantly upgrade the facility and open up use to a wider audience. Day to day management of the facility will be led by a community anchor organisation.

Section 2. Why is this being proposed? What are the aims? What does the authority hope to achieve by it? (e.g., to save money, meet increased demand, do things in a better way.)

The application to the Football Foundation for grant funding together with match funding raised by the community will see the MUGA pitch resurfaced with a “2G” artificial surface and upgraded floodlighting. The funding aims to deliver new or refurbished outdoor ‘mini pitches’ designed for football and other sports and activities. The focus is on improving access for priority groups from; lower socio-economic backgrounds, women and girls, disabled people and people with long term health conditions, and also those from ethnically diverse communities.

Section 3. What will change? What will be different for customers and/or staff?

In addition to the surface upgrade and multi-sports use, the refurbished MUGA will become a bookable facility, with paying customers (i.e. local sports clubs and groups) and free sessions available for the community. Bookings will be facilitated via the ClubSpark online platform (as used across the county for booking other facilities such as tennis courts) and managed by a community anchor organisation – The Gallows Close Centre (TGCC).

Section 4. Involvement and consultation (What involvement and consultation has been done regarding the proposal and what are the results? What consultation will be needed and how will it be done?)

The decision report sets out that TGCC undertook a community survey to collate views on the potential investment in a Playzone. It was distributed to local groups and TGCC carried out several events in the community. This resulted in 215 completed questionnaires being returned with 98% of respondents saying the investment would be positive for the area with very high levels (92%) of respondents saying they would utilise the facilities on a regular basis.

In addition to the survey work TGCC have engaged with key local groups including Barrowcliffe Big Local, Scarborough Athletic FC Foundation, SPARKS (coaching, counselling and careers service) and others to gain support for the proposal.

Section 5. What impact will this proposal have on council budgets? Will it be cost neutral, have increased cost or reduce costs?

The proposal will have a neutral impact on Council budgets (other than the £5,750 match funding offered by the Localities Team). The operating model for the facility is intended to generate sufficient income for the ongoing maintenance and eventual replacement of the surface.

Section 6. How will this proposal affect people with protected characteristics?	No impact	Make things better	Make things worse	Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.
Age		X		The project will be beneficial people of all ages, but particularly to young people who are members of local clubs or already accessing services at the TGCC.
Disability		X		The Football Foundation funding is aimed to support disabled people and those with long term health conditions by opening up access to facilitated groups and clubs that already work within the local community.
Sex		X		The Football Foundation funding is aimed to support women and girls who may ordinarily be reluctant to access and open MUGA and will have opportunities through local groups to attend facilitated sessions.
Race		X		The Football Foundation funding is also targeted to benefit those from ethnically diverse communities, such as Barrowcliffe.
Gender reassignment	X
Sexual orientation	X
Religion or belief	X
Pregnancy or maternity	X
Marriage or civil partnership	X

Section 7. How will this proposal affect people who…	No impact	Make things better	Make things worse	Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.
..live in a rural area?	X
…have a low income?		X		The Football Foundation funding is targeted at improving access to priority groups, including from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Free sessions are also planned for the community who are not taking part in organised sports club / group programmes.
…are carers (unpaid family or friend)?	X
….. are from the Armed Forces Community	X

Section 8. Geographic impact – Please detail where the impact will be (please tick all that apply)
North Yorkshire wide
Craven
Hambleton
Harrogate
Richmondshire
Ryedale
Scarborough	X
Selby
If you have ticked one or more areas, will specific town(s)/village(s) be particularly impacted? If so, please specify below.
Barrowcliffe, Scarborough – where the facility is located.

Section 9. Will the proposal affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics? (e.g. older women or young gay men) State what you think the effect may be and why, providing evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.

Section 10. Next steps to address the anticipated impact. Select one of the following options and explain why this has been chosen. (Remember: we have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people can access services and work for us)	Tick option chosen
1. No adverse impact - no major change needed to the proposal. There is no potential for discrimination or adverse impact identified.	X
2. Adverse impact - adjust the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We will change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, or we will achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people.
3. Adverse impact - continue the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We cannot change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, nor can we achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people. (There must be compelling reasons for continuing with proposals which will have the most adverse impacts. Get advice from Legal Services)
4. Actual or potential unlawful discrimination - stop and remove the proposal – The EIA identifies actual or potential unlawful discrimination. It must be stopped.
Explanation of why option has been chosen. (Include any advice given by Legal Services.) If the funding application is successful and the project comes to fruition, there are highly likely to be positive benefits for the protected characteristics of age, disability, sex and race – due to how the grant funding is targeted to prioritise those groups.

Section 11. If the proposal is to be implemented how will you find out how it is really affecting people? (How will you monitor and review the changes?)

The Council will be working closely with TGCC in implementing the scheme if the grant application is successful and will organise regular monitoring meetings with them on how the site is performing, post implementation.

Section 12. Action plan. List any actions you need to take which have been identified in this EIA, including post implementation review to find out how the outcomes have been achieved in practice and what impacts there have actually been on people with protected characteristics.
Action	Lead	By when	Progress	Monitoring arrangements
Post implementation monitoring / performance meetings	Team Leader – Community Assets and Engagement	From early 2026 onwards	-	As described in “action” column.

Section 13. Summary Summarise the findings of your EIA, including impacts, recommendation in relation to addressing impacts, including any legal advice, and next steps. This summary should be used as part of the report to the decision maker.

If the funding application is successful and the project comes to fruition, there are highly likely to be positive benefits for the protected characteristics of age, disability, sex and race – due to how the grant funding is targeted to prioritise those groups. The Council will be working closely with TGCC in implementing the scheme and will organise regular monitoring meetings with them on how the site is performing, post implementation.

Section 14. Sign off section.

This full EIA was completed by:

Name: Job title: Jon Clubb, Head of Parks & Grounds

Directorate: Environment

Signature:

Completion date: 01 May 2025

Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature): Barrie Mason

Date: 09/02/2026