WARRINGTON Borough Council’s public health and growth teams have launched two new strategies aimed at creating a happier, healthier, more active future for people.

The Warrington ‘Move More, More Often’ and the ‘Eat Well, Feel Well’ strategies were launched on Friday.

To celebrate the launch of the strategies a range of partners and residents came together at Bank Park to begin their journey for a healthier future with a walk around the park.

Together, the three-year plans will provide the framework for ensuring as many Warrington residents as possible are supported and empowered to build physical activity and healthy diets into their everyday lives.

Move More, More Often

This Active Warrington-led strategy is the vision for Warrington to be a place where being physically active and moving more is normal for all, regardless of age, gender, sexuality, disability, ethnicity, or income.

Despite the positive impact that being regularly active has on physical and mental health, approximately half of Warrington children and young people, and three out of 10 Warrington adults do not meet the UK physical activity guidelines.

The strategy outlines the approach that all partners will take to increase physical activity opportunities for those that are less likely to be active and enable everyone to move more, more often.

It will focus on building inclusive activity opportunities into communities, health and social care and education settings and workplaces. It also sets outs plans to actively promote participation in sport for everyone.

Eat Well, Feel Well

This strategy aims to make Warrington a place where the healthier choice is the easier choice, so people can feel well and stay at or get to a healthy weight.

It sets out how public health, GP surgeries, pharmacies, hospitals, voluntary organisations and schools can work together to help people eat healthier food and be more active.

This includes food growing schemes, access to fresh drinking water and healthier food options in schools, workplaces, hospitals and community venues. It also includes working with food and drink businesses – including takeaways and supermarkets – to offer healthier choices and limit unhealthy marketing to children.

A key priority will be to tackle health inequalities between people of different ages and backgrounds and the impact that factors such as lack of reliable access to affordable, healthy food can have on a person’s weight.

The Eat Well, Feel Well strategy also sets out a number of aims which will help ensure healthy diets are complemented by more active lifestyles, through the renewal of buildings and outdoor spaces to help people move more, new cycle lanes for active travel, and more.

To support this work, Warrington has joined dozens of other councils in adopting the ‘Healthy Weight Declaration’ developed by north west based charity, Food Active. This declaration gives councils additional tools and resources to support their residents to eat well and feel well.

Progress on both strategies will be tracked and reported regularly.

Cllr Tony Higgins, cabinet member for communities, culture and leisure, said: “Being active can help us all lead happy and healthy lives. The Move More, More Often strategy lays the foundation for this by setting out the steps we need to take to help Warrington residents get more active.”

Dave Williams, a Warrington resident and volunteer for Warrington Disability Partnership said: “There are many barriers that prevent people from being as active as they would like to be. This strategy is a first step towards addressing these barriers and the current inequalities in physical activity. It will enable us to look closely at how we can have more accessible facilities and inclusive opportunities for people to be active.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how we will widen the range of physical activity opportunities for people living with disabilities to participate in, making a fairer and healthier Warrington.”

Cllr Maureen McLaughlin, cabinet member for health and wellbeing and adult social care, said: “Through our Eat Well, Feel Well strategy, we want to tackle the rise in in children, young people and adults becoming an unhealthy weight, preventing the onset of problematic health conditions.

“To achieve this, we need to improve access to affordable, healthy food for everyone. We also need to ensure that people of all ages and backgrounds can benefit from support, advice and information which can help them build healthy, balanced diets – along with physical activity – into their lives.

“This strategy will help us to achieve this – and I’m looking forward to seeing all of our partners working together in the months ahead to deliver on the priorities we’ve set out. Most of all, though, I hope people will be encouraged by these opportunities to help address some of the challenges they face when it comes to making healthy food choices.

“The Eat Well, Feel Well and the Move More, More Often strategies are key to helping towards creating a place which enables and supports healthier communities.”

Warrington resident Eileen said: “As a sufferer of chronic long-term disease, I have had to learn and ask for support to make changes to my lifestyle to improve my wellbeing. 

“The Eat Well Feel Well strategy aims to make a difference - it reminds us of the factors that impact our health and will create lots of opportunities across Warrington to support us all to make positive changes as a community.”