SCOTLAND'S sporting bodies have claimed the legacy of Glasgow 2014 will be put at risk if the next government at Holyrood changes direction and opts to slash investment directed at both the elite and grassroots.

Launching its manifesto in Edinburgh yesterday, the Scottish Sports Alliance – consisting of all the national governing bodies, local sports councils and student sport – set out a five-pronged plan to maintain the momentum of growth that emerged from last year’s Commonwealth Games, targeting areas such as facilities, volunteering and health priorities, as well as school and high-performance activity.

It comes eight months out from the next Scottish Government elections, and 11 months before the end of UK Sport’s Rio 2016 funding cycle, with budgets at a national and devolved level expected to face significant cutbacks.

But lobbyists from the umbrella body have urged decision makers to opt for a long-term view over immediate financial constraints in what can be seen as an attempt to exert the influence of the estimated 900,000 people who participate in sport to secure manifesto commitments to maintain or increase the current level of backing.

“There’s no doubt of the challenge of the situation,” said SSA chief executive Kim Atkinson. “But a fifth of the population being members of sports clubs is a huge number. And sport is important. Enjoyment is a part of that. There’s no getting away from that. But it’s also looking at the benefit the people who participate get, from improved physical and mental health, learning, many other things. And then from a general level, through crime prevention, citizenship, things we don’t talk about that go to those 900,000 people.

“If we can talk more strategically about that, form partnerships, invest more, then more of us will benefit. And we can still add further value there with more money because small amounts go a long way.”

Sportscotland receives £34m annually from the current budgets although much of the responsibility to deliver will still fall on the 32 local authorities who allocate 90 per cent of the total public spending on sport. And with ongoing criticism over the costs of facilities, and concerns over the availability of much of the nation’s school estate, achieving the target of an enduring legacy from the huge investment in Glasgow 2014 is far from certain.

“One of the main things is not thinking we’re there,” Atkinson added. “We need to keep talking about it, about building on it.”

Scottish Government figures claim physical inactivity costs the NHS £91m annually. Across the UK, a 2011 report estimated the figure to be £1.06 billion. It has led some analysts to ponder whether leisure centres should mirror libraries and museums and have their charges removed to maximise the benefits.

It presents the politicians and their economic advisers with a dilemma as their 2016 manifestos reach the draft stage. “Of course, all sport could be free,” said SNP MSP Bob Doris, the deputy convenor of Holyrood’s Health and Sport Committee. “All it takes is money. We’re in a significant period of austerity but where we can make sporting activities cheaper and more affordable, let’s do that. Where we can make it free, fantastic. But we have to be clear where the money comes from and how it could be sustainable.”