Working with partners, Active Lincolnshire has secured additional funding from Sport England to boost levels of physical activity among people living in Boston and East Lindsey.

The two Lincolnshire districts are among the 53 places that are set to benefit from a share of Sport England’s £250million investment into the heart of communities across England, designed so that those in greatest need are able to be physically active.

To tackle the stubborn inequalities and break down barriers to a more active life, Sport England is taking a ‘Place-based approach’ - partnering with local organisations and leaders who understand both the specific needs of their communities and the local assets that are available - to support more people to be more active.

In Boston and East Lindsey, Active Lincolnshire will work with residents and local partners to listen, learn and understand the challenges and opportunities. Everyone will then work together to develop a plan for the multiyear investment.

This work focuses on the areas of greatest inequalities and allows us to be ambitious and innovative in our approach. The difference being more active makes to people in communities facing inequalities is even greater. These inequalities include:

• Socio-economically deprived

• Long-term health conditions and/or disabilities

• Non-majority ethnic groups

• SEND (learning and/or emotional and/or mental health conditions)

• Women and girls

• Children and young people

• Older adults, aged 75+

Over the next 12 months the Lincolnshire physical activity place partnership will be developing the work in place; deepening connections with communities and local organisations and working to understand what's needed in these places to make a difference.

We will be:

• mapping where we are at; what’s available, what’s missing, who is working in the area and what are the opportunities

• Getting to know, listen to and understand our communities through connecting with local people who will be at the heart of the work

• developing capacity for collaboration

• developing a collaborative approach to system leadership and governance

• learning from the work and share the learnings across the county and with other organisations to help influence change

Successful initiatives and ways of working can be adapted to suit other communities, supporting people in all districts to be more active.

Jonathan Frary, Director of Strategy and Place, said:

“This is an exciting time and we’re really looking forward to working with communities to co-create opportunities and find solutions that help get more people, more active, more often.

We have a chance to make a significant difference to people’s lives, the sport and physical activity sector, and the wider health and wellbeing sector by working in partnership to tackle inequalities together.”

Discover more about our Work in Place

Find out more about our work in place, and what we will be doing over the next year.

If you work in Boston or East Lindsey supporting communities to get active and would like to work with us please do get in touch with our Director of Strategy and Place, Jonathan Frary Jonathan.Frary@ActiveLincolnshire.com