A new report by Public Health England claims that people from lower socio-economic groups tend to have poorer access to environments that support physical activity such as parks, gardens or safe areas to play.

The report, Social and economic inequalities in diet and physical activity, focuses on the link between diet and obesity in low income areas.

Among its conclusions, the report states that low income households are also less likely to have disposable income for non-essential costs such as leisure-time physical activity.

The report comes just days after ukactive chair Fred Turok made a call to "change the debate" from a simple focus on obesity to provide an equal recognition of physical inactivity as a "top tier public health priority".

David Stalker, CEO of ukactive, said: "Studies have shown that physical inactivity could be responsible for 17.5 per cent of all premature deaths in the UK. There is a clear link between activity levels and the environment in which you live and we need a resourced national strategy to be put in place to tackle this."

To read the Public Health England report in full, click here.