Investing in National Health and Wellbeing

Why Sports Media Group are proud to present the Creating Active Communities Conference to be held at The Royal Society of Medicine, Wimple Street, London on the 21st September 2017.
Councils and their local partners are perfectly placed to lead a step change in sport and physical activity participation rates that will improve the nation’s physical and mental wellbeing. Not only are councils the biggest public sector investor in sport and physical activity, spending in excess of £1.4bn per year, but their understanding of our communities enables them to target opportunities and encourage mass participation. Local Authorities have a critical leadership role to play in bringing organisations such as schools and voluntary sports and activity groups, National Governing Bodies, County Sports Partnerships, health and the private sector together in a place to unlock barriers to participation through collaboration and partnerships.
The reasons why people don’t participate in sport and physical activity are multiple and complex. They include cost, transport, poor facilities, time, the environment and people’s perceptions. Barriers vary between places and communities and therefore need to be addressed locally so that the necessary interventions can be targeted to individual’s needs. Councils and their partners, including Sport England, seek to have local understanding and intelligence to recognise the barriers to participation and lead collaborative action to overcome them working with communities.
The Creating Active Communities Conference aims to provide an outline of the nations ambitious ideas and seeks to expand on the insight of how, with a collective approach, we can prioritise investment and skills to deliver active communities for all. This conference is a must attend for all those working in sport and physical activity, central and local government, academics, students and practitioners alike and those who believe that the local government has an important part to play in delivering activity across the nation.