Tuesday, 2nd April 2019
Last year Pennine Lancashire, which includes Pendle, was successful in being named as one of 12 pilot areas to work with Sport England to develop bold new approaches to build healthier, more active communities.
The pilot is called Together an Active Future and its primary aim is to increase activity levels for people with or at risk of poor mental well-being.
Since the announcement, a lot of work has been done to lay the foundations for the pilot to be successful, including identifying ways to involve those people who are more likely to be inactive and have poor mental well-being.
A network event in December 2018 brought more than 100 groups and organisations together to map the great activities and opportunities that already exist across Pennine Lancashire and to recognise that some of the challenge is to support more people to access these.
Sport England has announced that pilot areas will receive a minimum of £3m in Pathfinder funding to develop ‘test and learn’ initiatives. There is the possibility to unlock further funds of up to £10m if needed to scale up those initiatives that are most successful.
Councillor Paul White, Leader of Pendle Council, said: “This funding is fantastic news for Pennine Lancashire, especially Pendle.
“It will strengthen our efforts to encourage people to become more active and live healthier lifestyles regardless of their age, background or ability.
“We have a fantastic track record of working in partnership to improve active opportunities in Pendle.”
Damian Riley of the Pennine Lancashire health and care integrated care partnership, Together A Healthier Future, said: “One of the major reasons we were successful in getting this funding is that we have very strong partnerships developed here. Our region’s local authorities, NHS bodies, general practitioners, leisure trusts and voluntary and community sector work very well together to improve the health and well-being of our residents.
“Not being physically active can lead to serious conditions like diabetes and poor health and well-being in the future. We are a very ambitious partnership and with this funding we will develop truly innovative ways of getting more people physical active which in turn will have a great benefit to their mental well-being. As a clinician, I am very excited about how we do things differently will transform our approach to support those from doing nothing to something.”
Involving people who live and work across Pennine Lancashire is a really important part of Together an Active Future; a Pennine wide survey has been launched to better understand the barriers and opportunities across the area.