RESIDENTS across North Yorkshire are being invited to help shape exercise and physical activity services.
Starting from this week (September 9), an eight-week consultation opens with plans to look into physical activity as it currently stands across the county and what resources people would like to see in future.
This survey comes as the leisure centres across different district council areas come together under the Active North Yorkshire (ANY) branding, operated by North Yorkshire Council as active wellbeing hubs.
The newest leisure centres –Selby and Tadcaster – were brought under the umbrella earlier this month with Hambleton and Craven council to join later this year and Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale, and Scarborough to follow further down the line.
This new ANY service will take a stronger focus on health and wellbeing and aims to support more people to be active, especially those who may need more help and those who don’t currently use the leisure service.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for leisure, Cllr Simon Myers, said: “Through this survey we hope to find out how people keep active, what is important about being active and any barriers they face.
“We realise not everyone will use our centres to keep active so in order to build a full picture of physical activity in the community, it’s also important to find out about individual or team sports or activities like walking or cycling.
“And for those who do use the centres we want to know about their experience there, the strengths and where they can improve. For those who don’t use them we want to know why. This will help us to develop our services for the future.”
Some of the considerations in the survey are accessible or specialist equipment for those with long-term conditions or disabilities. Centres may also be able to offer a broader range of support such as health checks, nutritional advice, or mental health services.
Chairman of the Thirsk Hockey Club, James Laking, said it is important everyone finds a way that suits them best to keep fit. “We have nearly 400 members from the age of five to 75 playing hockey to keep them active, using the council’s all-weather pitch at Thirsk several times a week.
“Sport is widely accessible in North Yorkshire - with the recent new facilities the council have supplied we have access to some amazing facilities. All clubs welcome new faces along to join them and I actively encourage everyone to find a sport and stay active.”
North Yorkshire Sport’s chief executive, David Watson, said that changes can only be made if people say what they want.
“It is vital that everyone finds a way to keep active and by completing this survey they can help shape future services provided by the council as they bring the county’s leisure operations in-house.
“Targeting locally based activities and services will open up opportunities for more people of all ages and abilities, especially those in remote locations where travel to the larger hubs is an issue.”
The survey can be found at: www.northyorks.gov.uk/LetsTalk with other methods available on request. There will also be in person sessions with dates to be announced.
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