Strong need to foster essential collaboration between health and leisure sectors

Keynote speaker Derek Walker, the Commissioner for the Welsh Government for the Future Generations Act, set out how this embeds long-term thinking into public policy and how Wales must ‘do the now and tomorrow at the same time’. Improving health, wellbeing, active travel and eco literacy are among the many challenges that the legislation is tackling. He told the audience that sport and leisure need to be more integrated into all policy areas.

Assistant Director at Sports Wales Owen Hathway laid out how Sport Wales’ targeted investment creates impacts beyond sport itself and leads to health, social, community and environmental benefits. 

Development Officer Lucy Donovan outlined Newport Live’s phenomenal Positive Futures Programme outreach work in one of the challenging areas of the country. “We’re looking across generations of people with no work, where there is poor mental health and often a lack of trust in mainstream services.” She explained how she uses sport to engage marginalized young people and that activity spaces should be looked at differently – car parks as well as community spaces, pitches and sports halls can all be used. New sports venues can be off-putting to many people, but with enlightened thinking they can be real community hubs with crime prevention, youth justice, social workers, psychologists and outreach under the same roof.

Prof. Jim McManus, Wales’ National Director of Public Health, showed that 46% of adults in Wales have long-term health conditions. People often think medics can solve all health issues but diet, income, housing, smoking and physical activity levels have greater impacts on life expectancy. “We have created the perfect environment for people to die early,” he told delegates from Wales, the rest of the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia. “We know physical activity is good for mental health and strength for life. If it was a pill, you’d bottle it and make a lot of money from it.”

Day two focused on how the leisure sector is uniquely positioned to create opportunities for communities to lead more active lives. 

According to Managing Director Paul Cluett from Alliance Leisure, the industry needs to better understand the social value of facilities. “We’ve found that we need to sit with both users and – crucially – non-users,” he said, explaining that this understanding is vital to remove barriers to activity. He gave the example of a venue in Clay Cross in England that includes clinics and community advice services as well as leisure facilities. “I hope we’ll be building wellness centres rather than sports centres,” he said.

The need to hear from users and non-users was further developed by Lisa Mari Watson, Managing Director from Tverga in Norway who outlined her organization’s approach to this. “We believe that smarter solutions come from involving the people that they are meant for.” The more you understand what communities want, the more likely you are to hit the target of what you create. “Multi-use is a good way, not single purpose. Involve users early. I challenge you to get in touch with user groups that you don’t see in your facilities. Dare to think out of the box.”

Stephen Dietz-Hodgson of JAJA Architects in Denmark shared a visionary incorporation of unstructured activity into a car park with staircase running tracks and cross fit on the roof. And he showed a wildly exciting transformation of a redundant industrial building into a Streetmekka – a place for street art and street sports which “breaks down traditional ideas of sport and creates new ways of engaging.”

According to CEO Steve Ward of Newport Live, 99% of the daily use of Newport International Sports Village is by people seeking to have a health and wellbeing impact – “not for high end sport, it’s for local communities.” Flexibility was key with an incredible 19 different activities in the village’s velodrome – the bulk of which can happen while cycling can go on. He showed some fascinating AI tech which mapped user activity and helps with design of new venues. “Think about the fact that people will live longer, and we want them to live in better health, make sure you design things in and not out.” There is enormous social value to combatting loneliness and bringing people together. “Reengineer sports venues to be for wellness and for people’s whole lives,” he told the audience. “Single sports facilities are the enemy.”

Eoin O’Brien and Barry Dempsey from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in Ireland told how well organized sports clubs often dictate how resources are used. This can exclude many groups – young people who want a place to hang out, older people who may just need a level footpath – and how they now have created much more multi use facilities and removed physical fences and other barriers.

The seminar’s formal session closed with a fascinating insight into Uppsala, Sweden’s fourth largest city which has a quarter of its population involved in sports clubs and where cycling is a way of life. While this may sound like every public health professional’s dream, Charlotta Karlsson from Sport Uppsala explained that clubs are mainly driven by competitive objectives which don’t necessarily embrace people who, for example, take up sport later. Mikael Johansson from the city council shared how they created a stunning year-round activity zone from an area that previously hosted only winter sport in part of their long linear park. It was striking how barriers were removed – they built support from residents and politicians and tried small scale initiatives first with low threshold activities. A ‘leisure library’ lends out free sports equipment. 

The two-day event included a workshop, extensive networking opportunities and tours of the Principality Stadium and the nearby National Sports Centre. A huge thank you to the seven event sponsors, 15 speakers and moderator Joanne Martin. Special thanks to Mike Lawless, Elizabeth Adams and Charlotte King from LA Architects for putting the event together and leading some unforgettable Welsh singing.