Becoming the Borough of Sport
Merton is on a mission to become London’s first Borough of Sport. We want to break down barriers and open up access to sport by providing more free and low-cost sport and activities right across the borough.
Through this work we’ve helped get 6000 more people in Merton active since 2022.
Here's how Labour’s Borough of Sport ambition is helping people get active in Merton:
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UNDER 16S AND OVER 65S SWIM FREE
We have introduced free swimming sessions for Under 16s and Over 65s at all three of our leisure centres in Morden, Wimbledon, and the Canons in Mitcham – eliminating the cost barrier for getting in the pool.
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BIG SPORTS DAY
At the end of each summer we host our Big Sports Day, a fun-pack event for all the family with dozens of sports and activities for residents to try for free. In 2025, more than 8000 residents came to Big Sports Day and tried out something new.
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SPORTS FACILITY UPGRADES
We’ve made major upgrades to sports facilities across Merton, including renovating 47 park tennis courts and protecting free play where it already existed, installing multi-use sport areas at Colliers Wood Rec, Haydons Road Rec, and Morden Rec, and installed the largest number of equip boxes anywhere in the UK – providing a cheap and convenient way for people to hire sports equipment in our parks.
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FREE AND LOW COST ACTIVITIES
We’ve helped bring dozens of new free sporting initiatives to the borough for residents to enjoy, including the new ParkRun in Morden Park, exercise classes on Fair Green in Mitcham, and activities for older people in a number of our libraries.
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BOROUGH OF SPORT GRANT
We launched a Borough of Sport Grant Scheme to help grassroots sport and community groups to deliver more free and low-cost sport and activities across Merton. So far, we have invested £200,000 across more than 40 projects, including dance classes for the over 65s, gardening projects for young adults with learning difficulties, and self defence classes for visually impaired people.
