Devon Active Communities is set to help more local people get into sport thanks to £250,000 of National Lottery funding from Sport England's Community Sport Activation Fund.

The Devon County Council led bid is among 32 projects to receive a share of £5.1 million of funding to support grassroots sport activity across the country and build a lasting legacy from last year's successful Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Devon County Council has committed £125,000 of its 2012 legacy investment towards the project and has led its development on behalf of a consortium including Devon's nine local authorities.

Active Devon, the county sports partnership, will also play a key role by managing the implementation of the project using its expertise and networks for the delivery of community sports development programmes. The project represents an investment of £394,000 over three years in to community sport in Devon.

Devon Active Communities aims to activate more than 500 community group-based informal sport projects, creating nearly 400 new community-based activity leaders and reaching more than 6,500 Devon residents in the process.

The project follows the success of the Active Devon and Devon County Council's previous collaboration 'Active Villages', an initiative based in rural areas, letting communities guide what activities were needed, then supporting the residents to get the activities off the ground and training locals to deliver sessions, making activities self-sustaining. This new project takes certain principles of this success story into urban areas for the first time and launches on June 1, lasting for three years.

Chief executive at Active Devon, Matt Evans added: 'We are delighted that Devon County Council's bid has been successful. We know that when you talk to people in local communities and enable them to deliver the types of informal sports activities that fit their lifestyles you can help more people access the fun and benefits of playing sport and being active. This investment will enable us to take an approach that has worked so well in rural communities into Devon's urban communities. What a great way to build upon the success of last year's Olympics and Paralympics.'

The Community Sport Activation Fund builds on previous funding campaigns, which have shown that the key to success is finding out what people want from sport – and what's stopping them from getting involved – before designing an offer that's appealing, accessible and secures their long-term involvement.

The Community Sport Activation Fund will invest a total of £40 million of funding over five funding rounds. The second round of funding is now open and closes on July 1.

Community groups, charities and councils are among those that can bid for funding for up to three years, with grants between £50,000 and £250,000 available for a wide range of projects.

Successful projects bidding to this fund will demonstrate:

* A focus on a defined geographical area and community.

* Understanding of what local people want from sport with ambitious but realistic plans to get more people involved.

* Strong local partnership, including other funding sources.