How active are people where you live? Report ranks local authorities by residents' activity levels

At least it hasn't descended into loads of racist rants like on the BBC news comments. I guess as the article didn't mention cycling they started on immigrants instead, blaming them for the results, despite the actual report making no mention of this and pointing to social deprivation as the main factor. Sometimes, I'm ashamed to be British

London London london...FFS

@crikey

Definitely. Personally I find its far easier to get exercise if its integrated into everyday life, and if its in pursuit of a real purpose (i.e. getting to work, or even sightseeing on holiday for that matter) rather than being a special chore you have to do for its own sake (i.e. going to a gym).

I think we should take care not to make the issue as simple as sports facilities = an active population. The only guaranteed beneficiaries of an increased number of sports venues are the people who build them...

If we were serious about changing peoples levels of activity, we would start by designing our society and it's infrastructure to reduce car use, and that's not going to happen anytime soon. Pedestrianisation and placing car parks away from shops and other facilities is a sure fire way of upsetting the majority of people.

Watch people drive to the gym and park as near to the front door as they can...

Access is a bit of an issue - especially this time of year. During the summer then the canals and Victoria Park provide good access. I cycle with a couple of my kids (11 and 13) there every Wednesday in the evening for a Hockey match at the new centre and even though it's only about 3km for us there is no good route.

The park it'self is coming along and the 'legacy' areas (e.g. tennis, hockey, velo) do seem to be getting some decent use which is great to see.

I commute through the Olympic park - it's great once you get to it, but there is an OK route down the Lee on canals and minor roads. The contrast between the open vistas there and the canal path is, errr, immense. Totally surrounded by nightmare junctions, but you can skip them now at least (travelling north south anyway). Sneaking down that way gives me 5 of my 10 mile route off the road, so I am happy.

Park itself is ok but there is a lot of it dedicated to paths and not much to areas you can sit down in. Kids area is good but it gets packed out (already) ditto cafe.

I have noticed there is an MTB path there now but, as it right next to the A12 it's a little noisy, yet to see anyone on it. Velopark is good, just jump the fence and ride it.

As for inactivity... starts with schools, and parents, and money as well as access. I suspect if you built a dozen open-access basketball courts, a dozen more fussball pitches and a skateramp things would improve instantly. All the facilities there are intimidating and seem to tell you mostly to move on.

In a masterclass of words with no intention of backing them up with anything whatsoever to actually make the roads a less terrifying place to ride a bike our premier comes up with the following guff.

Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the report, describing ukactive’s work as “important” and saying it demonstrated the need to address the problem of physical inactivity.

He said: “I am delighted that local authorities are leading the way by starting to prioritise physical activity services in their local areas and in accordance to the local needs of their residents.

“The government has made it clear through our 'Moving More, Living More' initiative that departments will work together, with the Mayor of London's teams, to embed physical activity into the DNA of the nation as part of the long term physical activity legacy from the 2012 Games."

As Panorama recently highlighted in their program about drivers who kill the life of a man killed by a reckless driver who was fined a pitiful sum is deemed less valuable than the fine issued against a man who had caused undue distress to a squirrel.

Thanks very much Mr. Cameron, good to know where we all stand and a clear sign if ever there was one that you are happy to stand by and allow the daily violence to go unchecked whilst frankly having the audacity to call a COBRA meeting when water levels got a bit high.

If only I was a buoyant garden gnome I really would feel safe in your hands knowing you lose sleep at night at the prospect of me tippling over onto a neighbouring herb garden or heaven forbid...actually floating away.

Guess we can look forward to yet another poster campaign telling people the bleedin obvious then, could I suggest the 'Stop eating crap and sitting on your backside' angle perhaps?

So, good luck Mr. Cameron with finding the billions to try and reverse your obesity epidemic, given the die hard 'protect the motorist' at all and any cost approach I can only presume a nation of overweight layabouts was part of the tory dream?

Political factions aside (I really don't care any more who is pretending to be in charge) watching government attempts at road safety these past couple of decades has been like watching someone trying to bail a sinking ship out with a Pot Noodle fork (other pre-packaged dried food convenience rubbish is available).

It's really intimidating to cycle to the Queen Elizabeth park, that's why. Eastway is a nightmare, so is Bow Roundabout, and so it's largely blocked off from the West, except for the not-well-known Greenway...

I've been a number of times to Lee Valley Velopark (olympics site) and from my experience riding the road circuit and MTB trails, and from talking to the site operators, bike shop and local road cc, its criminally underused.

People just don't seem interested, even though this world class facility is incredibly accessible to Londoners and specifically LB Newham residents.