Data shows the Brinnington area of Stockport is one of the most deprived in the North West, with lower life expectancy rates, poor mental health, and higher levels of physical inactivity.
All those factors aligned to make to make Brinnington a prime area to focus on a whole systems approach, enabling us to consider everything that may help people become more active in their locality.
Brinnington Park Leisure Complex is an asset within the community but it wasn’t playing the role it could and should.
Adapting our planning by taking all those considerations into account have been important in evolving our approach to support the community.
To do this we identified:
This presented us with three vital questions:
Our approach created a significant increase in usage within six months, more than doubling by going from 4,441 visits to 9,537.
Nina Burns, Communities Manager, Groundwork, says: “It has been an exciting journey and one which has seen Brinnington Leisure Complex become a central space for a wide range of community activities for all.”
Behaviour and culture change – social activity engagement and conversations before participation.
Creating social movement – trust building with local community connectors and recognising the strength of word of mouth to promote activity.
Sustainability – empowering people to be part of interventions and activities such as community planting schemes.
Delivery designed by locals – focus on the decisions from the community and support them through funding and capacity.
Links to community assets and organisations – support local assets and partners to develop ideas further.
Partner understanding and awareness – varied usage to explore how partners use the centre and understand physical activity more, it’s not all about going to the gym.
Evaluation and impact – more qualitative and impact reporting of participation and engagement.
Ideas and projects are continuously evolving and progressing at GM Active. View our latest news stories below to find out how we are moving as one and contributing towards building the healthy, happy and prosperous Greater Manchester we all aspire to.
