Sport England has renewed the contract for its Moving Communities study for another four years.

Going forward Moving Communities will follow the quango’s place-based agenda.

Set up in 2021 to provide data and insights across public leisure facilities to enable policy and decision-makers to maximise the impact of investment in physical activity, Moving Communities is led by 4Global, in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University, Right Directions, and Active Insight.

To date the rolling study has tracked more than 200 million visits to facilities and recorded in excess of £1 billion in social value over the .

Going forward, Moving Communities will be aligning with Sport England’s place-based agenda to tackle inequalities. It will evolve beyond facility-based insights to whole place approaches, looking at activity in a community as a whole, including activity outside of facilities as well as what goes on inside. This will help understand overall trends in physical activity levels and support policy making and investment to reflect the unique needs of communities.

Emma Bernstein, strategic projects lead, Sport England, commented: “Where a person lives has a huge impact on their likelihood of being physically active. We see that all too often, low-income communities don’t have the same access to facilities and opportunities as wealthier areas.

"Sport England is doubling down on its commitment to tackling these inequalities by using data-driven insights to co-create meaningful, community-led change through our place working and the renewed Moving Communities contract.”

Jack Shakespeare, director of strategic projects, 4Global, says: “We’re excited to lead this next phase of the programme, working alongside our esteemed partners to ensure we continue to work across the sector to support key decision-making, drive continuous improvement, and demonstrate impact at both local and national levels.”