Belgravia Leisure has been honoured with the national award for its popular 5-year Access and Inclusion Strategic Plan at the annual Parks and Leisure Awards gala dinner in Perth on Tuesday evening.

The national Strategic Planning Award recognises Belgravia Leisure’s ongoing commitment to connect the community to leisure, including the many thousands of disadvantaged people who now enjoy the benefits of regular exercise and wellbeing in more than 200 centres across Australia.

Belgravia Leisure National Disability and Diversity Manager Dr Jeff Walkley said access and inclusion in services, programs and facilities was embedded within the Australian ethos of a ‘fair go’.

“Frustratingly, many people still experience exclusion from leisure,” Dr Walkley said.

“Recognising this, and using an evidence-based approach, Belgravia Leisure has developed, validated and resourced an innovative five-year strategic plan to rectify this inequity.”

Reflecting the research evidence that staff are the key gatekeeper to accessing leisure, the plan embeds staff training designed to create improved confidence and capacity, resulting in a welcoming, supportive and inclusive approach culminating in improved opportunities for those who have been disadvantaged.

Underpinning the plan is an approach to connect people to leisure that does away with the one-size-fits-all model of service delivery, replaced with a community engagement process that identifies local needs, preferences and priorities, resulting in programs, services and facilities that are determined by the community.

Speaking of the award win, Belgravia Group Chairman Geoff Lord said “I’m immensely proud of our team at Belgravia Leisure, who do everything they can to ensure no one misses out on being connected to leisure in their local community”.