Promoting physical activity to support physical and mental health

Our ambition is to adopt a whole-systems approach to promoting physical activity to support physical and mental health across Essex.

Essex is one of 12 pilot areas chosen by Sport England to tackle population levels of physical inactivity.

During Jan 2018 to March 2021, Health and Wellbeing Board will lead a programme to hard wire physical activity into the whole system for sustainable change.

We’ll focus on deprived communities, especially families, elderly, and people with poor mental health with 3 local authority areas; Colchester, Tendring and Basildon.

During this summer, the local pilot received an initial grant of £845,000 from Sport England for the start-up phase of the local pilot. 

Project Update

• We have talked with over 50 system leaders from a wide variety of stakeholders, and in Autumn we will start to implement a plan to create new systems and improve existing collaborations to tackle physical inactivity
• The local pilot has identified 27 existing interventions that are tackling physical inactivity, all being evaluated by the University of Essex. £150,000 is being invested to test and learn how these interventions can increase their capacity to engage physically inactive people, with a commitment to expand or replicate the best of them
• A team of three full time local pilot workers is being recruited to implement delivery plans in Basildon, Colchester, and Tendring
• Essex County Council passed a motion to promote physical activity in July, and the Health and Wellbeing Board has adopted the local pilot plan of action.

Next steps

• Agree a substantive award from Sport England for investment up until 2021
• Implement comprehensive plans for whole system change, governance, evaluation, data and insight, community engagement, communications, prototyping new interventions, and improving the physical environment.

Page updated 31/08/18