Both before and after Christmas, I’ve been involved in many discussions, both locally and nationally, about the cost-of-living crisis, its impact on people’s ability to be physically active and what it might mean for the health and wellbeing of our communities moving forward. 

It was announced in January that the Government would not be including sport and leisure facilities within its energy bills discount scheme to deal with the seismic issue of rising energy bills for such amenities.  Even prior to this announcement, the pressure that local authorities face to keep publicly funded leisure services open was well known, with many already consulting on decisions to close community facilities. 

Whilst much informal physical activity takes place outside of leisure facilities, such as when we walk, scoot, push or cycle, such facilities do provide vital services to their local communities; they are places to learn to swim, undertake rehabilitation programmes and meet with other people, to name but a few essential services they provide. 

The amazing network of community groups and organisation who provide physical activity opportunities across our region are also facing rising costs to continue their provision, costs that their participants may struggle to cover, and so the inequality that exists in physical activity participation across different deciles of the population will likely continue, or indeed even grow. As reported in their latest Activity Check In, Sport England expect the cost of living to “negatively impact sport and physical activity more than during previous recessions due to the significance and scale of these challenges.” 

Whilst physical activity does so much more than support people to be physically and mentally well, it is pertinent to consider the increasing pressures that our NHS is under and be aghast at the seemingly disconnected approach to using prevention to reduce demand on services.  The frustration that many people feel, including our team here at Rise, about the lack of vision and action centrally to put physical activity at the heart of prevention approaches, is significant. Whilst many of our local partners in Northumberland and Tyne & Wear recognise the opportunity, without central Government support, the opportunities will likely lie untaken. 

With all of the above said, I want to end on a more upbeat note. Despite the challenges highlighted, many local groups are still finding ways to continue to support their communities to be physically active, and I was delighted to visit two of them just before Christmas. Better Days provide a huge array of activities for disabled people to take part in, and we’ve been pleased to be able to support them with funding from the Together Fund to continue that provision. I also popped in to see Gaby and the young people at African Community Advice North East (ACANE) and was delighted to find a hidden gem of table tennis and dance moves within the Byker Wall. ACANE have also had support from our Together Fund, and both projects are great examples of how just a small amount of funding can really go a long way. If they can do it locally, surely bigger budgets elsewhere can make it happen too…