The Sport England Adult Active Lives Survey Report has been published (Thursday 20 April), covering the period November 2021 – November 2022. We have summarised the results for Northumberland and Tyne & Wear here. We have also provided a link to the full Sport England report here.    

Clare Morley, Chief Executive Officer, Rise: 

The headlines from Sport England’s national Active Lives adult survey report show that we can broadly celebrate activity levels finally returning to pre-pandemic levels.  

This is, of course, very encouraging news and also means that there are 1.5 million more active adults in England than there were when the survey was first run between November 2015 and November 2016. 

However, in our area of Northumberland and Tyne & Wear, the picture is, as always, a mixed bag. The diverse nature of our area, with pockets of affluence outnumbered by neighbourhoods of significant deprivation, results in some positive and less positive news.  

The results of the survey this year show that Newcastle, Northumberland and Sunderland are all slightly above the national level of physically active adults. However, levels of inactivity (adults who are moving for less than 30 minutes per week), and who are our key focus, have increased since last year for Gateshead, North Tyneside and South Tyneside and these also remain significantly higher than the figure for England.  Whilst inactivity rates have reduced in Sunderland, they still remain higher than the rate for England overall. 

We can also compare results for our area this year to when the survey began in 2015/16. Doing so shows us that Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland have each seen the levels of active adults increase, but that levels of active adults have declined in Newcastle, North Tyneside and Gateshead. Between 2015/16 and 2021/22, levels of physically inactive adults have declined in South Tyneside, Sunderland and Northumberland, but increased in Gateshead, North Tyneside and Newcastle. 

Our team know that a closer look at these results show that whether overall local authority area results are positive or negative, it is the smaller neighbourhoods and communities within each authority where we need to focus our efforts the most; those living with some of the highest levels of deprivation in England for income, health, education, crime, employment and housing. 

And so we continue to work with partners to collaborate around many of the big issues that are facing our communities today, using the power of sport and physical activity to tackle inequalities and create a higher quality of life for those who need it the most in our region.