Canvey Island: Council spends £60,000 to close life expectancy gap

Children in Canvey Island face "significant disadvantage" from birth, said Essex County Council

Schemes to get disadvantaged children moving will be launched in part of Essex to target the huge gap in life expectancy between its richest and poorest residents.

Life expectancy at birth is said to vary by 12 years between Canvey Island's least and most affluent areas.

Essex County Council has said it would now spend £60,000 on physical literacy breakfast clubs and PE programmes.

It said the skills provided would "more likely result in an active adulthood".

Canvey Island has all of the Castle Point district's neighbourhoods in its top fifth most deprived areas, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

There was a 12-year difference in healthy life expectancy between the most affluent ward of Boyce and the least affluent one of Canvey Island South.

In response, pre-school physical literacy breakfast clubs would be created for 300 of the island's most disadvantaged reception-aged children and their families.

These will help develop gross motor skills such as strength, balance and coordination, as well as hone fine motor skills - such as holding a pencil and small tools like scissors, paint brushes and cutlery.

A Flying Start programme will also be set up to promote positive early experiences of school physical education.

The council said the level of deprivation meant children in Canvey Island faced "significant disadvantage" from the start.

Only 41% of children in Castle Point met the medical guidelines for sport and physical activity levels, with nearly one in four children overweight or obese at reception age.

In a statement, Essex County Council said: "Providing children with the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life will much more likely result in an active adulthood.

"Children and young people with skills and confidence to be active are happier and have higher levels of individual and community development."