Active England

 

Summary

The Active England programme aims to increase community participation in sport and physical activity across England. Active England's wider objectives are to improve health and well-being generally, through actively promoting healthy exercise. Approximately 250 projects are being funded from 2005.

Five Active England projects are underway that focus on increasing activity levels in woodlands and greenspace, these are:

• Bedgebury, Kent
• Haldon Forest Park, Devon
• Rosliston, Derbyshire (the National Forest – as part of ‘Get Active in the forest’ project)
• Great Western Community Forest, Wiltshire (as part of the ‘Active Swindon’ project)
• Greenwood Community Forest, Nottinghamshire (as part of the Parklife project).

The projects, lasting for 3 years, share similar aims:

• To increase physical activity levels in key under-represented groups
• To increase participation in physical and sports activity.

Specific priority groups include:

• People on low incomes
• People with disabilities
• Women and girls
• Black and ethnic minorities
• 45yrs+ age group
• Young people (under 16).

The above sites are improving existing infrastructure and/or organising a range of events, activities and training to help attract new users and encourage them to adopt healthier lifestyles. Organising health walks and tai chi sessions, undertaking outreach work, creating children’s adventure playgrounds and developing family cycle tracks are examples of some approaches adopted on these sites.

Evaluation approach

Forest Research is contributing to the monitoring and evaluation of the five projects; it has adopted a three-phase approach to its evaluation:

1. Questionnaires undertaken yearly at each site to obtain a profile of visitors and to monitor how the user base changes over the course of each project.
2. The production of a catchment profile (including demographic details) of the surrounding population within an approximate 20-minute drive time to the site.
3. Qualitative research within surrounding communities to explore the benefits and barriers to using woodlands for physical activity.

Funders and partners

The Active England programme is jointly funded by Sport England and the Big Lottery Fund with a budget of over £100 million.

Each of the five project sites above is working with Forest Research to add value to the evaluation.

Forestry Commission conducts and funds a range of research that explores the social aspects of forestry, including a social research programme on health and well-being.

Publication

Brief summaries of the catchment profiles and first year site survey results are available on request.

Contact

Liz O’Brien
Forest Research
Social and Economic Research Group
Farnham
Surrey, GU10 4LH

Tel: 01420 22255
Fax: 01420 23653
Email: liz.obrien@forestry.gsi.gov.uk