Four in ten adults in Newham are not doing enough exercise according to Sport England’s new survey of physical activity across the country.
The largest survey of its kind in Europe, the Active Lives headline figures show that for Newham:
- 4% are inactive (78,000)
- 0% are fairly active (25,600)
- 7% are active (153,400)
The Year 1 Report of the Active Lives Survey makes for very interesting reading.
It replaces the Active People Survey that tracked grassroots sports participation from London’s successful bid for the Olympic Games in 2005 until last year.
The first Active People survey defined Newham as one of the laziest boroughs in the UK with 63% of the adult population being defined as inactive. By the time of the last Active People covering 2014/15, the figure had hardly moved at 62%.
However, Newham Council and local sport and activity groups always challenged this perception of the borough. Attendance figures at our leisure centres, participation in sport and physical activity groups and alternative surveys, including the council’s own household survey, suggested it was not a true indication
In addition, a survey methodology which depended on telephone interviews in a disadvantaged and multi-lingual borough and did not take full account of informal physical activity including walking and gardening was not going to give a true picture.
What it also failed to recognise was the impact of the huge investment in facilities, opportunities and programmes that have taken place over the past decade not just in the Olympic Park but improvements such as the indoor athletic centre at Newham Leisure Centre, the covered multi-use games area in Stratford Park and the new football and rugby pitches in Memorial Park. And which continues with new amenities like the Manor Park Health and Fitness Centre and Atherton Leisure Centre.
So Sport England’s recognition that the survey needed to change is to be welcomed.
And the fact that some 70% of the adult population is active or fairly active – double what was previously thought – is testament to a strategy that is working.
This borough strategy aims to get more people more active – physically, economically, socially and culturally.
So the work of activeNewham is crucial.
activeNewham is the key player in getting the population more physically active through our leisure centres and through programmes that include Every Child a Sportsperson and Park Lives. activeNewham also runs one of the best volunteering programmes in the country which is now an important feature of everyday life in the borough.
This does not mean there is any room for complacency.
We will only tackle economic and health inequalities and therefore improve wellbeing in the borough by getting more and more people involved in activity. We have still to crack the hardcore one in four who do no useful physical activity.
Which is why we will continue to innovate, especially in the use of new technology and social media, to increase participation and work with any organisation in the borough that share our ideals.
We do not just run facilities. We want to change people and help make Newham a great place to live and work.
