The application of benefits based management to the management of sports grounds

Abstract

This paper will discuss the Benefits Approach to Leisure, an approach which makes explicit, and gives focus to, the benefits arising from recreation facility and programme provision. From this approach, a management planning framework has been developed called Benefits Based Management (BBM). Earlier this year Dr Bev Driver, one of the architects of the 'Benefits Approach', toured New Zealand (sponsored by NZRA), discussing the approach and management framework. Following Bev Driver's tour, the Dunedin City Council decided to adopt BBM for their forthcoming review of sports grounds. This paper outlines the principles of BBM and how it can help recreation planning. It then documents progress to date in the application of BBM to the current review of Dunedin City's Sports Ground Management Plan. This is the first application of BBM in New Zealand.