Active Calderdale
We want Calderdale to be the most active borough in the north, through the Active Calderdale movement. This aims to get more people in Calderdale more active, more often. This will reduce demand on services, whilst making a significant improvement in the health and wellbeing of our residents.
Physical activity can give benefits to both physical and mental health and wellbeing. It can help reduce the risk of diabetes or dementia, and help relieve symptoms of mild to moderate mental health. The average life expectancy of Calderdale residents is three years below the national UK average, plus there is a difference of 10 years between the best and worst Calderdale wards (17 years if looking at healthy life expectancy). We want to improve the life expectancy of our residents, whilst also reducing the inequality between the wards.
It is recommended that all adults should do 150 minutes or more of physical activity each week. 63.7% of Calderdale adults do 150 minutes or more (Public Health England, based on Sport England: Active lives survey: mid November 2016 to mid November 2017). However, there are 23.8% of Calderdale adults who do 30 minutes or less a week.
Sport England Local delivery pilot
Sport England has chosen Calderdale as one of 12 pilot areas to trial innovative ideas to build healthier, more active communities (December 2017) and has been awarded a share of £100 million of National Lottery funding to tackle inactivity.
The pilot was launched on 17 April 2018 to all the key stakeholders involved in the pilot, and covered what the Local delivery pilot entails. Speakers included Ben Williams from Sport England and Professor Jim McKenna from Leeds Beckett University. The presentation from the launch has been made available:
More details about this pilot project can be found at:
- Sport England – Transforming the delivery of physical activity locally
- Calderdale successfully secures big Sport England funding boost: let’s get active!
One of Calderdale’s change programmes covers Active Calderdale and explains what we are doing and how we are progressing. You can find more information at:
- Active Calderdale change programme;
- Health and Wellbeing board report: Active Calderdale update, June 2017
We recognise that we cannot do this alone. The Active Calderdale movement involves a range of organisations from public, private, and voluntary and community sectors, both within Calderdale and further afield. To get involved as a volunteer, see the Calderdale website Volunteering section.
Open data
As part of the Active Calderdale movement, we are publishing a range of open datasets around sports and physical activity. These include:
We are working with the Open Data Institute (ODI) and the Open Active project (an ambitious community led initiative for change across the sport and physical activity sector, which promotes the use of opportunity data to help people get active). The goal is to make data openly available on what, where and when physical activity sessions happen, and help other organisations to use this opportunity data to build interesting tools and experiences for consumers.
Also see how Gladstone are working with the Open Active project and their customers to open up this data and harness its potential.
Data visualisations
To sit alongside the data, we are creating a series of graphical profiles, using data at ward level. These are designed to make data more user friendly. One of the data visualisations is Active Calderdale ward profile.
The profile gives a comparison between the wards and Calderdale overall, including data on secondary school children activity, life expectancy at birth, travel to work / school, primary school children weight, and the level of activity of Calderdale residents. Behind the data visualisation page is the data used and notes on how the comparisons are made.