Swimming pools. Boxing gyms. Basketball courts. These are just some of the places where people come together, stay active and feel part of their community.

The good news is that a new law going through Parliament will, for the first time, give automatic protection to many local sports spaces – making it easier for communities to step in and save them if they’re at risk of being sold off or closed. That’s a big and welcome step forward.

But right now, not all sports spaces will benefit from the new law in the same way.

Under the current draft, only outdoor sports grounds with spectator facilities get this automatic protection. Indoor venues or outdoor spaces without stands can still apply to be protected as community assets, but they won't get that protection automatically.

That difference has nothing to do with their community value, and everything to do with the Bill using a technical 1970s legal definition of a sports venue that hasn’t kept pace with modern sport.

Indoor spaces matter just as much as outdoor spaces. They support mental health, tackle loneliness and, in many places, are the sports facilities people use most.

That’s why we’re backing a simple, common-sense amendment to the bill in the House of Lords: any space, indoors or outdoors, used mainly for sport or physical activity should get automatic protection as a sporting asset of community value.

Add your name now to back our amendment to the bill and protect all community sports spaces.