BLACK COUNTRY PARTNERS AWARDED NEARLY £1.3 MILLION FROM SPORT ENGLAND TO TACKLE PHYSICAL INACTIVITY

• Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton among 53 new places across England receiving new tranche of funding.

• Sport England’s two-phase grant award process aims to boost levels of physical activity among people living in the most deprived and inactive communities.

• Each new place is in the top 10% of the country for inactivity, social need, deprivation and health inequality.

Black Country partners have today been awarded a £1,287,710 development grant from Sport England to help address inequalities that prevent people from being physically active.

Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton are among the 53 places set to benefit from a share of Sport England’s £250million investment into the heart of communities across England.

Active Black Country is the accountable organisation for the funding.

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 move more and get active.

The two-phase grant award process, replacing Sport England’s historic ‘programme led’ investment model, is being rolled out after trialling in 12 local delivery pilots nationwide.

Under phase one, Active Black Country will use part of the development grant for a community engagement exercise to reflect the context and need across the Black Country. This will be coupled with the collective voices of local people, communities and partners, plus leadership and workforce development, built around collaboration with local government partners – Dudley MBC, Walsall MBC, Sandwell MBC and the City of Wolverhampton Council – as well as other valued partners such as community organisations and Black Country Transport.

This work will inform phase two – the full grant award submission. It is anticipated that partners across the Black Country will be in a position to apply for this second grant later in 2025.

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 Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton.”

Ian Carey, Chief Executive of Active Black Country, said: “The Black Country needs this level of collaboration in phase one to address the large-scale challenges and underlying inequalities that prevent people from being physically active.

“Black Country partners share a commitment to tackling physical inactivity but recognise there is huge amount of work to be done to develop a shared purpose amongst stakeholders – from the health sector, community and voluntary bodies, and the transport and housing sectors – and a genuine commitment to collaboration to develop understanding of needs and identify community-based solutions.

“The development grant will enable partners to focus on smaller hyper local areas, connected assets and strategic infrastructure such as transport and housing that have a broader sub-regional impact and present significant opportunities to get people active and build stronger, more resilient communities.”

Black Country partners will use the knowledge and learning from the wave of community engagement workshops over the coming months to progress solutions to influence policy, planning, service delivery and wider investments that can create equitable, accessible opportunities for people to be active and move more.

Phase one will also highlight opportunities to build on and accelerate place-based work – extending partners’ reach into new areas of the Black Country.

Dudley Councillor James Clinton, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, said: “I am pleased we have managed to secure funding for the first phase of this very important project. We want to ensure anyone, regardless of background, regardless of their level of fitness, can take part in exercise and physical activity to improve health.

“We will be trying to work with people who perhaps aren’t as physically active as they would like and finding out what barriers and obstacles are stopping them.”

Sandwell Councillor Jackie Taylor, Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Health and Wellbeing, said: “I am happy that this development grant will allow us to work closely with our communities to develop and co-produce initiatives and provide physical activity opportunities while improving health and wellbeing at a local level.

“We have already delivered the Get Set Go! Friar Park pilot programme and will use the evidence from this to take forward into our future co-produced programmes.”

Walsall Councillor Gary Flint, Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing, said: “This announcement from Sport England will enable us to closely work with partners and communities to put health, people and wellbeing first.

“As part of We are Walsall 2040 and our Council Plan, our ambition is for Walsall residents to live healthy and well. Engaging in regular exercise can have a significant impact on our current and future physical, social and mental health, and we share our commitment to work with partners across the Black Country to address physical inactivity within our communities and enable everyone to live active and fulfilling lives.”

Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Wellbeing, said: “We are delighted that the Black Country has been successful in securing a development grant for the Sport England Place Based Expansion programme. This will allow us to fast forward our work to reduce physical inactivity in our city and help Wulfrunians be physically active in line with our Health and Wellbeing Together priority of 'Getting Wolverhampton Moving More'.

“The development grant will help us shape what further investment is needed in Wolverhampton to address the range of pre-existing inequalities that impact on our residents’ ability to be physically active. The funding will enable our communities to be at the centre of work to tackle physical inactivity and help create local capacity that will lead to long-term improvements to residents’ health and wellbeing through creating an active city."