Healthy lifestyle support to aid three areas

Telford, Coventry and East Staffordshire will all benefit from the support

Support and funding for schemes in three areas of the West Midlands that have the greatest health inequalities, has been announced by Sport England (SE).

The body will be working in partnership with Energize in Telford, Think Active in Coventry and Together Active in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.

The organisation said it would be helping another 27 areas around the country, with support totalling £250m.

SE said its own research suggested healthier lifestyles could save the UK healthcare system £8bn a year.

It said people living in the least well-off areas of England were less physically active, "fuelling long term illness, poorer mental health and reduced life chances".

Energize Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin said it was due to receive £400,000 initially to carry out research, before making a bid for a larger sum of money.

Kelly Middleton, the councillor responsible for health on Telford and Wrekin Council, said: "This funding represents a significant investment in our residents' wellbeing."

She also said the focus would not just be on sport and attention would be paid to improving the places where "people live, work and spend time, ensuring everyone has the opportunity to lead healthier, more active lives".

Understanding communities' needs

It said its strategy would be to partner with organisations in the 27 areas to "understand both the specific needs of their communities and the local assets that are available".

It would bring the total number of areas it supports through partnerships to 90.

Inactivity has been becoming entrenched, Sport England said, with "more than one in three adults inactive in England's most deprived areas compared with just one in five in the wealthiest".

In Coventry, it said, "life expectancy drops within a short distance between suburbs and inner city wards".

There was a similar situation in East Staffordshire, where it said there were "strong inequalities between deprived urban areas and affluent market towns".

"Targeted community action" could reverse the trend, it said.