Gateshead and South Tyneside are among the 53 places set to benefit from a share of Sport England’s £250 million investment into the heart of communities across England, designed so that those in greatest need are able to be physically active.
Sport England research calculates that active lifestyles save £10.5 billion a year for the health and social care system. This relieves some of the NHS burden, preventing 1.3 million cases of depression, 600,000 of diabetes and 57,000 of dementia (the UK’s leading cause of death) annually.
Less than half of children are meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines for daily physical activity and women, people from lower socio-economic groups and Black and Asian people are still less likely to be active than other adults.
To tackle these stubborn inequalities and break down barriers to a more active life, Sport England is taking a ‘Place-based approach’ – partnering with local organisations and leaders who understand both the specific needs of their communities and the local assets that are available – to support people to play sport and get active.
In Gateshead and South Tyneside the money will be used to engage with residents and work with communities to take a strength based, community centred approach to understand and improve health and wellbeing outcomes.
Lisa Dodd-Mayne, Sport England’s Executive Director for Place, said:
“We are proud to announce our partnerships with 53 new places in every corner of the country today. We know that where someone lives plays a huge part in how active, or not, they will be. Through our Place Expansion programme we will work with local partners and communities to break down the barriers to physical activity so that everyone has equal access to a more active life. We are excited to see what we can achieve together in Gateshead and South Tyneside.”
Clare Morley, CEO of RISE, said:
“We are excited to be able to work with our partners across the local authorities, VCSE sector and other public sector partners in Gateshead and South Tyneside in order to drive systemic change that can support and enable residents to be more physically active in ways that work for them. The latest data suggests that 33% of adults in Gateshead and 30% of adults in South Tyneside are physically inactive, meaning they are moving for less than 30 minutes per week. For children, less than half are reaching recommended guidelines for physical activity in South Tyneside, and in Gateshead, over a fifth of children and young people are classed as less active. We will work with local partners through this Place Expansion programme to address those statistics.”