Sefton Council is one of only 16 successful bidders for National Lottery funding from Sport England to help encourage inactive people to get moving.
The “Get Healthy Get Active” project has been awarded £398,654 over three years and is aimed at supporting the most inactive residents of Sefton. In particular the project will target adults with learning difficulties and residents aged 65 plus who are at risk from dementia or from falls.
“Get Healthy Get Active” will provide tailor made sport and physical activity programmes designed to increase activity levels and reduce health inequalities.
The Sefton project is one of 16 schemes across the country that will share a total of £5.4 million as part of an initiative to encourage people with health problems to take more exercise.
Evidence shows that if adults are physically active, it helps to prevent or manage more than 20 chronic health conditions including heart disease, cancer and dementia. Inactivity also costs the economy £7.4billion a year and contributes to one in six deaths – the same proportion as smoking. 28% of people in England, approximately 12.5 million, are currently inactive. Physical inactivity is the fourth largest cause of disease and disability in the UK.
Sport England Director of Community Sport, Mike Diaper, said, “Physical activity plays a powerful role in improving people’s health. The evidence is absolutely clear on this. But it also has a wider impact.
“We want to highlight the positive and valuable contribution that sport can make to people’s health and well-being but also the economy.
“These programmes will do exactly that. By putting prevention at the forefront of their work, they will help to reduce the risk of inactive people developing serious health problems and in doing so, save taxpayer’s money. That is the power of sport in action.”
Cllr Ian Moncur, Sefton’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said, “This is excellent news as it will enable us to help and support some of the most vulnerable and at risk people in the Sefton community.
“By giving people who currently take little or no exercise the opportunity to take part in physical activity, we can help to reduce the risk of major diseases such as cancer, dementia, diabetes and heart disease. I also hope that those taking part will find that sport can be a fun and enjoyable activity.”
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