Ambition Three: Increasing activity levels in Oxfordshire's priority neighbourhoods

We want to increase activity levels in priority neighbourhoods to level the playing field and help create healthy places to live

• People living in Banbury Ruscote are 63% more likely than the national average to die under the age of 75 from an illness considered preventable.
• A child born in Blackbird Leys can expect to live 13 years less than a child born in the most affluent parts of Oxfordshire, and a child born in Banbury Ruscote 11 years less
• Three areas in Oxfordshire are in the 10% most deprived in the UK in terms of health inequalities, these are in Banbury Ruscote, Banbury Cross and Neithrop and Carfax
• The prevalence of childhood obesity is highest in Northbrook and Blackbird Leys with almost 3 out of every 10 children in year 6 obese. 11 wards in Oxfordshire have significantly more children in year 6 with obesity than the national average, all but 2 of these wards are within the 20% most deprived nationally
• People in lower socioeconomic groups are twice as likely to be inactive as those in the highest socio-economic groups

We will focus on the 10 neighbourhoods which have the greatest inequality in terms of activity and health. These neighbourhoods are Banbury Ruscote, Banbury Cross and Neithrop, Banbury Grimsbury and Hightown, Northfield Brook, Blackbird Leys, Carfax, Littlemore, Rosehill and Iffley, Barton and Sandhills and Abingdon Caldecott.

• Work together with local residents, groups and schools within each priority neighbourhood to fully understand the current picture so that we can have the greatest impact going forwards
• Ensure that people with long term health conditions who are living in priority neighbourhoods have access to support to get active.
• Ensure that all children on free school meals and families living in priority neighbourhoods are offered free and reduced cost access to physical activity via YouMove.
• Ensure that residents living in every priority neighbourhood can easily access free activities near to their homes

In the next two years, we will take the following actions together:

• We will create Active Neighbourhood Scans in each of the ten priority neighbourhoods alongside local groups, schools and residents, to further understand the local assets & barriers to physical activity
• We will ensure that families and people with long term health conditions can benefit from physical activity by working closely with leisure centres and community facilities to focus on wellbeing and wider community benefit
• We will ensure that there are health walks and free opportunities to be active in each of the ten priority neighbourhoods
• We will work together to ensure that people living in priority neighbourhoods have opportunities to be active within 10-15 minutes walk of where they live, by embedding activity within existing community spaces, such as schools, parks and in community centres.

Everyone has a part to play in helping people living in priority neighbourhoods to access physical activity in a way that works for them. By working together, small actions can make a big difference.

If you can help us towards any of these actions, or would like to find out more, please contact kathrynholding@activeoxfordshire.org.

For each of our four collective ambitions, we've developed a report which shows the local data and insight that has led us to develop the ambition in the first place, as well as more information and context about our approach.