Sport England has invested £3m to give young people across London new opportunities to access sport.

The money, which is one of the largest ever investments in youth sport in the capital, will be used to develop new coaching and training courses in basketball, cricket, girl's football and rugby union.

Some of the £3m will also go towards bolstering the sporting infrastructure in London by providing support for more than 950 coaches and 180 sports clubs.

The money has been donated to the London Active Partnership, a collaboration of every London borough and sporting bodies including Sports Coach UK, the London Sports Forum for Disabled People and Youth Sports Trust.

The Partnership will used the money to fund the development of Active Sport, Sport England's nationwide sport development programme for young people. Sport England have committed £10m a year for five years to enable the scheme, which aims to give youngsters the opportunity to reach their full potential in their chosen sport, to get underway.

'Active Sports will change the face of sport in London for young people forever, and give thousands of youngsters an opportunity to try new sports and take their talent as far as they can,' said chair of Sport England, Trevor Brooking.

The London Active partnership is already working on a bid, to be submitted to the Sport England Lottery Panel next year, for a further £3m to help develop netball, swimming, tennis, athletics, rugby league and hockey facilities.