People cleaning up and repairing sports pitches and facilities destroyed by recent bad weather can apply for new National Lottery funding to help them get back up and running quickly.

Sport England has created a special £200,000 emergency flood relief fund to help restore pitches and repair sports facilities damaged by the rising water and gales.

The funding is available to sports clubs, local authorities and other community sports organisations to help pay for emergency repairs to damaged facilities such as football, rugby and cricket pitches, water sports centres, pavilions, changing rooms and floodlights. Financial support can be provided in as little as three weeks.

Sport England launched a similar fund in early 2014, over 250 local sports facilities were helped, including Gloucester All Blues Rugby Football Club which used the funding to restore their clubhouse.

Clubs, charities and similar organisations in affected areas should visit www.sportengland.org/floodfund to see if they are eligible to apply. Those needing funding to clean up and get up and running quickly can request up to £5,000 of emergency funding through the online application which could be awarded in just a few weeks. Organisations that do not qualify will be given advice about other sources of funding. The Emergency Flood Relief Fund will close at 5pm on Monday, February 1st.