Learning from practice

With the clear aim of getting more people, more active, more often, Brighton and Hove City Council and Brighton and Hove City Teaching Primary Care Trust came together to create ‘Active For Life’. Under this joint management and with additional investment from Sport England, Active For Life has:

 established a local alliance, known as the Active Living Taskforce, consisting of health professionals, care workers and volunteers who all share a ‘community of interest’ around active living

 produced a strategy for active living in the city, covering promotion, programmes of activity, changes to the physical environment and high-level policy changes

 managed the recent Everyday Sport campaign

 created a highly popular website providing guidance on how to get and stay active as well current details of over 190 clubs and groups in the city offering everything from abseiling to yoga

 recruited a team of ‘activators’ – five physical activity workers, each located in a neighbourhood renewal area within the city, who organise activity sessions for local people and to support the existing clubs and groups in their area with training, funding advice and volunteers

The programme is costing £400,000 over three years (including in kind contributions from partners) plus £12,000 for consultation on and production of the 'active living strategy' and £15,000 for the website and online directory.

The coordinator and activators are brand new in post and the outcomes of their work will be monitored against specific key performance indicators over the next three years.

However, the Active Living Taskforce has already ensured the successful Healhwalks programme has continued well beyond its original funding. They are also actively supporting a bid to Cycling England which will mean £1.5m investment over three years for Brighton and Hove to become a 'cycle demonstration city'.

Working closely with Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club, ‘Seagulls Six’, has been launched, where six fans have taken on the challenge of changing their lifestyles, with direct support from the club doctors and trainers. The website is receiving 3,000 to 5,000 visits every month by people looking for ways to get more active.


Taken from IDeA’s ‘Year of healthy communities’ calendar - a year's worth of practical inspiration on simple steps you can take to promote health across a wide range of services.
• www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=4425634
IDeA is the improvement and development agency for local government
• www.idea.gov.uk