Agenda item

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submits a report that introduces the emerging Active Leicester Strategy action plan, following the launch of the strategy in July 2023. 

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submitted a report that introduced the emerging Active Leicester Strategy action plan, following the launch of the strategy in July 2023.

Councillor Bonham as Vice-Chair of Health Scrutiny, the Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance, the Head of Sports and the Sport & Active Recreation Development Manager attended the meeting to assist with the discussion.

Key points included:

• The strategy was set against a backdrop of dwindling resources, but it was thought that small changes in the way organisations and internal colleagues operated could make a big difference without needing new resources.
• The strategy approach aimed to galvanise support and encourage collaborative working.
• It was aimed to utilise internal communications networks within areas such as housing, education, and neighbourhoods to better reach people within the city.
• There was a role for the corporate marketing team, such as in Parks with walking trails, maps, and the environmental scheme.  It was aimed to spread this further within some of the communication networks.
• Colleagues in public health had developed a one off non-recurrent grant for community groups and others to initiate sport and physical activity projects in line with the strategy.
• There was an emerging opportunity with Sport England to initiate change in the locality and get systems working better.
• A Health and Wellbeing hub was being piloted at Aylestone Leisure Centre which would make use of existing resources, for example, training staff to be more empathetic with service users, making the centre more welcoming and encouraging citizens to make use of it.
• Also being looked at were products, programmes and marketing, it was hoped to pilot a six-month free offer for a small cohort of 20-30 people, colleagues in Housing would be worked with so that the right people were engaged with.
• A seminar was being developed with a keynote speaker to encourage collaborative working internally across services.  It was hoped to link this in with the place-based project coming up with Sport England.
• Once internal support was galvanised, external partners would be engaged.

The Committee were invited to ask questions and make comments. Key points included:

• The reasons behind the lower levels of inactivity in Western Ward and Knighton Ward were not known at this point although it was later clarified in the discussion that these wards were comparably better than others.  It was noted that the definition of physical activity was wider than participation in organised sport, and as such it was possible that other forms of physical activity were being undertaken in these wards.  Organisations were being encouraged to target less-active areas and various forms of physical activity were being encouraged as well as organised sport, such as active travel like cycling.
• The one off, non-recurrent funding would be an opportunity for existing sports groups to extend their activities into some of the priority groups that that were listed in the strategy or start something new for some of the priority groups.  These opportunities would be publicly advertised and solicited through the Council network and levels of funding would be between £1.5k and £10k.
• Responding to a question about the sample size of the inactivity data in the city, it was clarified that it was taken from the Health and Wellbeing survey which was taken from around 2000 residents across the city.  Later it was also brought to the attention of the Commission that there was also the annual ‘Active Lives’ survey from Sport England, which meant that up-to-date data was available each year.
• In response to a query about how to get people to be active when there was a deficit of local facilities, it was explained that there was an emphasis on encouraging behavioural change and promoting what was available. It was suggested that people could be pointed towards YouTube tutorials and encouraged to partake in other forms of physical activity such as walking.  It was further suggested that work with Sport England was aimed to look at how to find local solutions with local groups and volunteers.  It was understood that sustained behavioural change would take a long time, as it would take a long time to build confidence and trust. As such some of the work with Sport England was a longer-term commitment than had been seen previously.
• There was a ball-court improvement programme and ball-courts would be invested in across the city.
• It was acknowledged that other agencies in the city such as Leicester Riders were looking to extend their reach and were looking for ways that they could take responsibility for their assets in order for them to be useful for activity.  This would be encouraged; however, it was acknowledged that the voluntary sports sector that provided opportunities throughout the city should not be forgotten about.
• In response to a comment about the lack of resources that grassroots sports clubs had in comparison to large professional clubs, the scheme would look to encourage clubs to work together, and dialogue and collaboration would be encouraged.
• The hub at Aylestone Leisure Centre would be expanded to other hubs across the city if the pilot was successful.  What worked in the pilot would be taken on board.
• Levels of inactivity in Leicester had not changed much in recent years.  There were signs of improvement prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, however the pandemic had led to increased inactivity.  Leicester was worse than the regional and national averages.
• In terms of definitions of inactivity, ‘inactive’ meant less than 30 minutes of physical activity per day and ‘moderately active’ meant 30-60 minutes of physical activity per day.  ‘very active’ was 150 minutes a week.  This in mind, a 35% rate of inactivity was high.
• A person who could get resources and creative thinking out of departments would be desirable as the keynote speaker at the seminar.
• Walking and jogging trails were available on the Council website (Fitness on parks (leicester.gov.uk)), people could do these at their own speed.  Additionally, there were information boards in parks showing routes.
• The Chair made the recommendation that should Sport England funding become available, grassroots/community sports clubs to be considered for priority over larger professional clubs with their own funding streams.
• The Chair made a further recommendation that the Active Leicester strategy action plan be brought back to the Commission following the findings of the seminar.

AGREED:

1)    That the report be NOTED.

2)    That the Active Leicester strategy action plan be brought back to the Commission following the findings of the seminar.

3)    That should Sport England funding become available, grassroots/community sports clubs to be considered for priority over larger professional clubs with their own funding streams.