Despite being home to the likes of Olympic cyclist Joanna Rowsell and Paralympic champion David Weir, Sutton is losing the race when it comes to fitness.

Almost a year on from the Olympics, a Sutton Council report has revealed the borough’s levels of fitness and activity are "much lower" than other parts of London and England.

Your Local Guardian:

Paralympic champ David Weir, from Wallington, has six gold medals 

The Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, released earlier this month, by the director of public health Dr Ellis Friedman reveals that nearly a quarter of adults in Sutton are obese.

Nearly a fifth of the borough’s 11 year olds are obese and one in 11 of Sutton’s 4-5 year olds are overweight.

The problem is due to the fact that levels of activity and fitness in both Sutton's adults and children is below what is expected.

A staggering 91 per cent of adults do not take part in physical activity to benefit their own health which is lower than London or England.

The report also reveals that Sutton’s children are less active than others in London and nationally.

A spokesman for the National Obesity Forum said adults tend to be a "lost cause" but Sutton Council should look seriously at increasing the activity of its children.

 

He said: "The feeling of the National Obesity Forum is that local education authorities should be going one extra mile to make sure activity is part of the school day.

"The future of Sutton’s fitness, activity and health has got to be grasped with its children.

"Inactivity in Sutton is appalling but it’s not the worst. Sutton’s councillors should have got the message loud and clear now."

He said that adults should have at least 30 minutes of exercise every day and children should have at least an hour.

Your Local Guardian:

Dr Ellis Friedman, director of public health, said: "In a small number of areas, Sutton is performing less well than one would expect. This appears to be the case for levels of physical activity in Sutton.

“A multiagency group led by Public Health has been set up to develop and deliver a new strategy based on best evidence of what works; this is expected to achieve the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy target of ‘Increase the number of people achieving 12 week improvement in physical activity and healthy eating by 5 per cent by April 2015’.”


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