The town of Bury has received £1.8m funding to run an intensive one-year pilot to get more girls and women active and to tackle the gender gap in sport.

Funded by National Lottery funding from Sport England, the scheme will run highly visible activities across the borough including in local parks and leisure centres.

Sports on offer will fall into four areas: well-known sports played in different forms or settings (such as cardio tennis); outdoor fitness such as bootcamps in parks or group runs; dance and fitness sessions; and programmes to encourage older women to get more involved in sport.

Despite an increase in women playing sport regularly over the past year, women are still much less likely to be active than men.

Secretary for culture, media and sport, Maria Miller, said: "Last year's Olympic and Paralympic Games were a triumph for women's sport, showcasing positive role models such as Jess Ennis and Ellie Simmonds.

"We are making good progress: more than half a million more women are playing sport in the last year; and our broadcasters are responding to pressure to increase coverage of women's sport."

The Active People Survey revealed 6.87m women in England are playing sport at least once a week, compared to 6.3m the previous year.