Ambitious vision for a healthier district

Harborough District Council’s Physical Activity Strategy, which aims to increase participation in sport and leisure activity and enhance quality of life, was approved by the Executive on Monday 4 December 2017.

The strategy – part of the council’s ‘Healthy Harborough’ vision – sets out the council’s commitment to helping build active communities through sport and recreation in towns and villages across the district. It will also help the district lead the way in sporting activity by maximising links with parishes, sports clubs and schools to provide more venues for physical activity, increasing funding opportunities from a range of sources, and improving the council’s existing leisure centres.

More than 2,300 people took part in the council’s leisure consultation over the summer. These responses have fed directly into the strategy.

Councillor Janette Ackerley, Harborough District Council’s port folio holder for wellbeing and localities, said: “Sport and activity offers huge benefits for physical and mental health, education and social wellbeing. We want to capture these universal benefits as well as break down barriers for social groups which might find it difficult to get active. These can include older people, people at work, those with long-term health conditions, those with disabilities or those on low incomes.”

Recent data shows that more than half of adults in the Harborough district are overweight and 15 per cent of children are obese. One fifth of adults in the district are considered to be physically inactive (do less than 30 minutes of moderate physical activity per week) and it is estimated that 37 deaths a year could be prevented if three quarters of Harborough residents aged over 40 did the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity each week.

The roll out of the Physical Activity Strategy will commence in January 2018.