Sport England expands into Thurrock to boost health and wellbeing

Inactivity isn’t just a health issue. It is a national emergency, deepening inequality and cutting lives short.

New research from Sport England exposes the brutal link between affluence and activity. In Barking and Dagenham, fewer than half of adults are active, compared to nearly 80% in wealthy Brighton and Hove. The same divide is clear in children. Only 34% of kids in Thurrock, one of the country’s most deprived areas, are active, while in well-off Richmond upon Thames, that number soars to 62%.

But there is hope. Sport England is tackling the problem by expanding its work into 53 new areas, every one of them in the top 10% for inactivity social need, deprivation and health inequality, it is breaking down barriers and delivering real change where it is needed most.

Aston spoke to Lisa Dodd-Mayne, executive director for place at Sport England.

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