Sport England has announced a 50 per cent boost to its Protect Playing Fields (PPF) Olympic and Paralympic legacy fund.

The £5m (US$7.5m, €5.8m) increase, made possible by strong sales of National Lottery tickets, means that the PPF - part of the Places People Play (PPP) initiative, will focus on protecting and improving playing fields and developing community sport.

After a record number of bids, 75 projects have been successful in the most recent funding round, getting a share of £3.5m (US$5.3m, €4.1m).

Sport England chair, Nick Bitel, said: "The popularity of this legacy fund shows just how important local playing fields are to grassroots sport. I'm delighted that even more communities will now benefit thanks to this extra lottery funding."

All 75 projects will receive funding of between £20,000 (US$30,000, €23,300) and £50,000 (US$75,300, €58,500), including Ullenwood Bharat Cricket Club in Gloucestershire, that will use £50,000 (US$75,000, €58,000) to secure the freehold of the cricket ground via an asset transfer.

Over four rounds of funding, 721 pitches and 2,600 acres have been protected and improved. In total PPF has supported 239 sports groups with £11.3m (US$17m, €13.2m) in funding.