Plans to enhance leisure provision will have the added bonus of supporting people to overcome mental health issues, the leader of Lichfield District Council has said.
Figures from Public Health England reveal that regular physical activity can reduce the risk of depression by around 30%.
Mental Health Awareness Week runs until 19th May with a focus on keeping people moving to boost their mental health.
Cllr Doug Pullen, leader of Lichfield District Council, said he was keen for the local authority to play a part in supporting residents to stay active:
“It’s easy to see why this theme has been chosen – while regular physical activity is known to reduce the risk of depression by 30% and more than 80% of adults acknowledge that physical activity is important for mental health, it remains a stubborn fact that more than a a third of UK adults are classified as inactive.
“Add in the social connections formed through many types of physical activity and it becomes even more clear why this is such a strong theme .
“While district councils are not formally responsible for public health as this is a function of county councils, our role in providing the key social determinants of health, including mental health, has never been more important – particularly as we understand what is currently preventing almost 12 million adults from becoming active and what we can do to support them into activity.
“The Mental Health Foundation have identified barriers to getting more people active, with better weather, affordable gym memberships, finding enjoyable activities and more facilities all coming out high in their survey.
“While controlling the weather might be a stretch, there’s so much we can do as a local authority to increase the range of options for people to get active, particularly in getting people from no or low activity into regular activity.”
Cllr Doug Pullen
Cllr Pullen said the council had identified opportunities to get more people active, including waiving the fee for Parkrun to use Beacon Park and bringing the Hello Velo scheme back to Lichfield and Burntwood.
He added:
“As a kid, my most common sporting arena was the road outside of my house – football, cricket, cycling or kerbie all happened just feet from my door.
“We’ve worked with Play Streets to create a pack for residents that will help you turn your road into a safe, traffic-free playground for the kids, whether that’s just a one off or a weekly event.
“We have worked hard to find capital funding of more than £10million and the right contractor to build a leisure centre with a six lane swimming pool and fitness studio, as well as a new all-weather pitch
“A wider leisure offering is another way to introduce people back into activity, so we’ve stopped building under-utilised outdoor gyms and focused on true variety, such as climbing walls, soft play, padel tennis, adventure golf, obstacle courses have all been created or planned for the district.
“Our Lichfield District 2050 strategy sets our aspirations high. We will be the most active district in the UK.
“There’s still a long way to go, but I hope that in this corner of England, we are playing our part in enabling residents to get active, foster social connections and improve their mental health.”
Cllr Doug Pullen
We will be the most active district in the UK? It is beyond risible. Is he Pullen our leg again?…..Oh sorry, we are, of course, on the run up to an election.
Accessible sports for disabled people,would be great as there seems to be plenty in other towns and cities but nothing here.Instead of a velo a good bike track where recumbent bikes and tricycles can be used safely as you cant really ride on the footpaths and the roads are really dangerous with recumbents being low to the ground
This bloke is excellent at marking his own homework. I don’t know how he gets away with it.