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Devolution is changing the game and Sport England’s Place Partnerships are making sure physical activity is part of the plan.

England's devolution agenda is changing where power sits, plus it is also changing how places think about health, transport, housing, skills and economic growth.

The decisions made through devolution today will shape communities for decades because by embedding movement into new systems now, physical activity becomes part of how places work.

Physical activity can influence how neighbourhoods are designed, how people travel, how services are delivered and how communities thrive.

The opportunity is to move beyond seeing physical activity as an outcome and recognise it as a tool for creating better places and, across the country, Sport England's Place Partnerships are helping to make that happen.

Because places are not waiting to be invited into devolution conversations – they're starting them with health, community organisations, local authorities, education and others.

Furthermore, they are building relationships with these partners, bringing evidence and showing how physical activity can help deliver wider ambitions.

Shaping systems fit for the future

Devolution requires an approach that connects physical activity to the wider challenges facing places and it presents an opportunity to rewire systems locally.

This is to be done by better connecting policy and service areas so that it is everyone’s responsibility to support healthier places, stronger communities and better outcomes across public services through the lens of getting people more active.

This shift is already happening.

In Cumbria, our partners used a period of local government reorganisation as an opportunity to influence the future system.  

With this aim in mind Active Cumbria focused on building relationships, demonstrating value and showing how physical activity could support the ambitions of the new authorities.

Plus a shared-services prospectus helped turn the case for physical activity into a compelling opportunity for senior leaders, showing how it could add value across services rather than sit within a single agenda.

At the same time, involvement in local government redesign opened the door to shaping future ways of working, with sport and physical activity positioned as part of the solution.

Together, these opportunities created a stronger platform to influence how services could work collectively to support healthier communities.

The key lesson is simple: influence is strongest when relationships and credibility are built before decisions are made.

Elsewhere, in West Yorkshire, our partners have taken a regional approach, connecting physical activity with wider ambitions around health, transport and inclusive growth.

By aligning movement with strategic priorities, physical activity has become part of conversations about creating better places – demonstrating how activity can contribute beyond sport.

South Yorkshire provides another example of how partnerships can use evidence and collaboration to influence wider agendas.

By connecting physical activity with challenges such as health inequalities, community resilience and economic opportunity, partners have helped position movement as part of the solution and a contributor to wider outcomes.

And in Devon, our partners have focused on building the foundations for future influence.

By engaging early with local leaders and demonstrating the contribution physical activity can make, they are helping ensure movement is considered within wider discussions about place and public services – creating the opportunity to shape decisions before they are made.

Common goals across the map

These examples show there is no single route to embedding physical activity in devolution as every place has its own challenges, opportunities and priorities.

But the non-negotiable principles are clear – understand local ambitions, build trusted relationships and demonstrate the value physical activity can bring.

Strategic authorities and local leaders are focused on major challenges: improving health, boosting economic activity, tackling inequality, strengthening communities and creating better places to live.

The opportunity for our Place Partnerships is to connect movement with these wider priorities.  

Active travel supports transport ambitions, active communities support better health outcomes, physical activity supports children's development and investment in activity creates social and economic value.

The evidence is powerful, as Sport England estimates that community sport and physical activity generate £123 billion in annual social value, with a further £20 billion possible if the least active matched the most active. 

These are not just numbers. They are arguments about public services, economic growth and the future of places.

By the time a strategy is published or an investment decision is made, much of the thinking has already happened, that is why we support our Place Partnerships to be part of conversations from the beginning.

A work that goes hand in hand

Because, ultimately, this is the role of our Place Partnerships – connecting organisations, aligning priorities and creating the conditions for long-term change in supporting people to engage with, and value, being physically active.

We’re convinced that devolution will shape England's places for generations.

Decisions about transport networks, housing developments, health systems, employment and regeneration will influence whether active living becomes the easy choice for future communities.

And that’s why physical activity cannot sit on the sidelines of these conversations.

The examples from Cumbria, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Devon and other places show what is possible, because when Place Partnerships build relationships, bring evidence and align with local priorities, they become trusted partners in shaping the future.

If we want more people to be active, we need to start by understanding them and the places where they live.

It’s an important shift in how we think about physical activity, because being active is not just about whether there is a sports facility nearby or whether someone knows about a local exercise class.

It is shaped by the environment around us, our circumstances, our confidence, our connections and whether we feel that opportunities to be active are really for people like us.

Building from local knowledge

That is why our investment in places is putting communities at the heart of our approach.

Through our place-based investment, made possible through National Lottery funding alongside Exchequer investment, we are working with communities across England where levels of inactivity are highest and where people can face some of the greatest barriers to being active.

The starting point is listening, because locals understand their communities better than anyone.

They know what works, what doesn't, which places feel welcoming and which ones don't, and what gets in the way of being active. They also know the strengths that already exist – the people, organisations, spaces and relationships that can make a difference.

Our job is to help bring those strengths together.

That’s why we’re working alongside local authorities, Active Partnerships, health organisations, voluntary and community groups, schools, sport and physical activity organisations and most importantly local residents, to get more people active.

Practical examples of our place work 

Rather than deciding what a community needs from the outside, we’re creating the space for people locally to help shape the solutions themselves.

We can see what this looks like across the places we work.

In Doncaster, more than 2,500 residents have helped create a community-run 'Friends of' group that now independently delivers physical activity events in local parks.

In Bradford, the JU:MP programme has used insight from children, families and schools to shape action, contributing to more than 70 additional minutes of physical activity per child each week.

And in Blackpool, a youth leadership programme, co-designed with 16-25-year-olds, has brought 20 young people into leadership spaces to help shape decisions.

These are places with different challenges, but the common thread is that local people are helping to define both the problem and its solutions, which is important in communities where inactivity is closely connected to wider inequalities.

In this sense, our Active Lives research shows that those from lower-income households, some ethnic minority communities, disabled people and older adults can face additional barriers to being active.

And our latest data brings this into sharp focus: 53.8% of adults in the least affluent groups are active, compared with 73.2% of the most affluent.

Tackling difficulties for moving

Those barriers are rarely about motivation alone.

They can include cost, transport, safety, confidence, access to facilities and green spaces, caring responsibilities or simply not feeling that traditional opportunities are designed with them in mind.

Our place-based approach allows us to look at those issues from the ground up and it’s where the power of local knowledge becomes so important.

Because a solution that works brilliantly in one community may not work in another.

The role of place-based investment is therefore not to impose a single model, but to support communities to develop approaches that reflect their own needs and assets.

Rather than simply funding individual activities, we’re investing in the relationships, infrastructure and local leadership that are helping change how communities think about and support physical activity.

That is a different kind of investment and one that takes time.

More than sport

We need to understand not just whether people have taken part in an activity, but whether the local system around them is changing.

There are many questions involved, including:

• Are organisations working together differently?
• Do communities have a stronger voice?
• Are opportunities becoming more accessible?
• Are people who have traditionally been less active beginning to see physical activity as something that belongs in their lives?

These are the changes that will help make our progress sustainable.

There is also a wider opportunity here because when people come together around physical activity, the benefits can extend beyond being active itself.

Community activities can create social connections, reduce isolation, help people feel more connected to where they live and improve their health. 

Our 'Social value' research shows that active lifestyles could prevent more than 3.3 million cases of chronic health conditions each year, including depression, back pain and type 2 diabetes, plus delivering an estimated £8 billion in direct net savings to the healthcare system by preventing illness and reducing pressure on the NHS.

That is why our investment in places is about more than sport.

It is about creating the conditions in which being active can become part of everyday life and about ensuring that people have an opportunity to influence what happens in their communities.

Communities have always been places where people build relationships, support one another and improve their health together, and physical activity has played a role in making that happen. 

The evidence base for physical activity as a tool for prevention against health conditions continues to grow. 

Neighbourhood Health is one of the biggest shifts proposed in the NHS 10-Year Health Plan. 

While the terminology may be new, the ambition isn't. 

A fantastic opportunity for all

The UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines set out the role of regular movement in reducing the risk of major conditions including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. 

So what’s new now? The NHS, local authorities and the voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE) sector have a clear mandate to work differently – by collaborating to deliver more joined-up care that's closer to home. 

For those of us working in physical activity, this represents a significant opportunity.

At Energise Me, we're already seeing what this can look like through Sport England’s Place Expansion Programme, funded by the National Lottery. 

By supporting communities over the long term, rather than funding short-term projects, we're able to support local partnerships, build trusted relationships and work alongside communities to develop solutions that reflect local needs. 

This approach recognises something we've known for a long time - good health isn't created solely in GP surgeries or hospitals. 

It's shaped by our communities, our connections and the opportunities people have to live active, healthy lives. 

The key role of local communities

Across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, physical activity is already helping to deliver many of the ambitions that underpin Neighbourhood Health. 

Community organisations are supporting prevention and early intervention through initiatives such as falls prevention, cardiac rehabilitation, community exercise programmes and activities to help people manage long-term conditions. 

Importantly, these programmes happen in places where people feel comfortable. 

Community centres, parks, leisure facilities and village halls are trusted environments that often reach people who are less likely to engage with traditional health services. 

Many of these individuals initially come for the activity but stay because of the friendships, peer support and the sense of belonging they discover. 

Research from Sport England demonstrates the wider value of community sport and physical activity in building social connections and improving wellbeing. 

Working alongside local partners, organisations are increasingly connecting people with advice on housing, debt, benefits and other issues that have a significant impact on health. 

This recognises that preventing ill health means addressing the wider factors that shape people's lives. 

Social prescribing approaches, supported by NHS England Social Prescribing, are helping connect people with community-based opportunities that support their health and wellbeing. 

Across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, we're seeing these principles come together through Integrated Neighbourhood Hubs, where health services, local government and community organisations are working together around the needs of local communities. 

Organisations like Saints Foundation, the Southampton FC charity, have realigned delivery to match the neighbourhood's health footprints in the city, and are now working with over 60 health partners at their Senior Saints sessions. 

Our Place Expansion investment enables us to contribute to this work beyond simply delivering programmes. 

We're helping align organisations, using data and community insight to shape local priorities. 

We're also investing in shared roles, supporting collaborative planning through approaches such as Theory of Change, and providing test-and-learn funding so communities can develop and refine new ideas. 

By working alongside neighbourhood partners, we're helping to create the conditions for lasting change rather than delivering isolated projects. 

Alongside this, I'm proud to represent the VCSE sector on the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Neighbourhood Health Transformation Board. 

Having community organisations represented in these strategic conversations is vital if neighbourhood health is to reflect the strengths, knowledge and relationships that already exist within our communities. 

And we're already seeing the impact this approach can have in helping prevent ill health. 

This is achieved by reducing loneliness, by improving people's confidence to self-manage long-term conditions, and by strengthening local skills, volunteering and community capacity. 

But there is still work to do. 

Looking ahead

Partnerships between primary care and community organisations remain inconsistent, and awareness of local physical activity opportunities varies across the health system. 

Many VCSE organisations are also responding to increasingly complex needs while relying on short-term funding. 

If Neighbourhood Health is to fulfill its ambition, physical activity and the VCSE sector need to be recognised as integral parts of the system. 

That means sustainable investment and stronger partnerships between health and community organisations. 

But it also means better referral pathways and greater confidence among health professionals in the value of community-based support, plus continued collaboration across neighbourhoods to make the most of local insight and expertise. 

This is because Neighbourhood Health may be a national policy, but healthier neighbourhoods are created locally. 

Across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, we've seen how continued investment, strong partnerships and community leadership can help make that vision a reality. 

By continuing to invest in people, places and relationships, we have an opportunity to ensure physical activity sits where it belongs – at the heart of healthier neighbourhoods.

If you’ve ever wondered whether a simple walk can really make a difference to someone’s life, the answer from our Somerset Health Walks community is a huge ‘yes’.

Over the past year, we’ve been gathering feedback from over 3,000 of our individual walkers and over 180 volunteers to better understand the impact that our Health Walks programme is having across Somerset.

But while the statistics are important, it’s the personal stories and comments that really bring everything to life – and honestly, they’ve been some incredibly moving tales to read.

One thing that shines through again and again is how welcoming and inclusive our walks feel.

Another lovely theme that emerged was people reconnecting with their local area.

Walkers told us they’d discovered footpaths, countryside routes and places they never knew existed.

Enjoying our local spaces

Others spoke about the joy of being outdoors in all seasons – being out in fresh air, nature, muddy boots and all – plus the recent study by Current Psychology confirms that walking in natural environments significantly improves mental wellbeing.

As always, we’ve also listened carefully to suggestions and feedback, and over the past year we’ve introduced more walks in different locations, added clearer meeting point information and improved details on our website to make walks easier to access.

Walking is a favourite activity for many people and why wouldn’t it be here in our beautiful county?

It’s important to us that Somerset Health Walks continues to grow and evolve with the needs of our community. That’s what working in Place is all about.

The investment from Sport England is important, but working in this way has only been made possible by our incredible volunteers and walk leaders.



The warmth, professionalism and care they bring every single week is what makes these walks so special.

And, of course, the walkers themselves. They are what make this community what it is and why we carry on working together in this way. See you on the next walk!