The local and national elections are fast approaching, with the polls opening on Thursday 7 May. Here is your guide to the upcoming elections and what they could mean for the sport and physical activity sector.
What are local elections?
Voters choose local councillors to represent them on their local council, who are responsible for making decisions about local services and priorities within their area.
These elections usually take place every four years, typically on the first Thursday of May, however not all local elections take place at the same time. This year, approximately 40% of local councils are holding elections, with over 5,000 local councillors to be elected across 136 English local authorities and six council-leader mayoral elections.
Primary purpose: deciding who runs local services
Local councils are responsible for a lot of services and processes that directly affect your daily life. These can include:
- Leisure centres, swimming pools, playing fields and other sport and physical activity services in your local area
- Parks and green spaces
- Public health and wellbeing initiatives
- Planning and development of facilities
- Transport, walking and cycling infrastructure
- Housing, community safety, waste and environmental services
Mayoral and local authority powers are continuing to deepen across England, with the UK government’s white paper highlighting how they plan to implement this.
What this means for sport and physical activity
Ultimately, councils decide budget priorities – these directly impact our sector, such as whether sport and leisure services are introduced, protected, reduced, or expanded. They can also influence decisions on facility closures, refurbishment or new builds.
Local councils are in control of commissioning projects such as exercise referral schemes and social prescribing. Having local councillors that recognises the impact that the sport and physical activity workforce could be the difference on if programmes go ahead.
For the sport and physical activity sector, local elections often determine whether services survive, grow, or shrink over the next four years – so your vote does count.
CIMSPA’s workforce development team engage with local councils as part of their local skills work, with many authorities sitting on their respective local skills accountability board, so our sector is already in the minds of local councillors and decision makers.
Scotland and Wales Elections
Scotland and Wales are also holding elections on Thursday, and their populations will be electing representatives to their respective national parliaments.
All Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) are up for re-election, across 73 constituencies and 56 regions.
96 seats are up for grabs in Wales, as their number of Members of the Senedd (MSs) has expanded from the current 60.
Devolution in Scotland and Wales
Established in 1999, devolution was introduced in the UK to ensure that decisions are made closer to the local people, communities and businesses they affect.Â
A number of key powers were transferred to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru. Scotland controls major areas such as health and social care, education, transport, local government, sport, physical activity and public health, and justice. Wales hold powers for health and social services, education, housing, culture, sport and the Welsh language, transport and local government.
What this means for sport and physical activity
As sport and physical activity is a devolved matter in Scotland and Wales, they ultimately decide where funding is allocated for our sector. With both governments being in charge of health and physical activity, it is crucial that their priorities align with our sector.
With continued devolution, advocacy for the sport and physical activity sector among local government is more important than ever, and the May 2026 elections is a great opportunity to ensure that our sector’s voice is heard.