Sport England has cut funding to 40 schemes by £31.8m, after an eight-month financial review.

The 40 schemes affected had previously been told they would receive funding, but Sport England was forced to overturn the decisions due to a decrease in Lottery income.

Another 57 projects will be referred back to new regional sports boards for more work.

The biggest cuts – of £17.7m – will affect four Institutes of Sport in the UK, namely Norwich, Gateshead, Lilleshall and Leicestershire.

There are 108 projects, worth £88m, which have been given final approval. These include a £3m investment in the Portland Sailing Academy, situated in Weymouth.

“We do not underestimate the disappointment that some applicants will feel,” said CEO, Roger Draper (pictured), “but all the projects were thoroughly reviewed and we have not been able to agree to release funding for every project. Although every scheme is important, these 40 schemes represent only 1 per cent of the many other successful projects up and down the county we have invested in.

Sport England has also just finished a major internal reorganisation, with staff numbers almost halved from 570 to 240.” Details: www.sportengland.org