HILLINGDON ONE OF THE LEAST ACTIVE BOROUGHS
HILLINGDON IS ONE OF THE LEAST ACTIVE BOROUGHS
HILLINGDON, Harrow and Brent have made it into the top 10 least active boroughs for adult sports participation in London.
New figures show less than half participate in a sport, while on the flipside, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and the borough of Chelsea are listed among London’s most active areas.
The figures have been put together by GolfSupport.com, which has crunched numbers put together by the London Assembly.
The research showed Barking and Dagenham was the worst London borough for inactivity, with 67% of residents not taking part in any sports whatsoever.
Camden was the most active, with only 35.7% of residents not participating in any sports.
GolfSupport.com also conducted a survey to find out why Londoners are not actively engaging and participating in sports.
From 1,426 responses, it was found that ‘ preoccupied/busy with work’ was the most cited reason as to why Londoners are not playing sports at 32%.
Gary Swift, GolfSupport.com MD, said: “The fast-paced nature of London unfortunately translates to its residents, who are consistently preoccupied with work matters and social engagements.
“As a result, they have little or no time for physical activity.
“Whilst the Olympics did initially surge sports participation numbers, its seems the nostalgia is now stagnating.
“To counteract this, there needs to be a new and creative approach to illustrate the long-term benefits of sport participation on physical as well as mental health”.
With regards to West London specifically, this is how the boroughs ranked in terms of what percentage of their local population is not participating in any sporting activities:
1) Hillingdon – 58.0% 2) Harrow – 57.3% 3) Hounslow – 54.2% 4) Ealing – 51.4% 5) Hammersmith and Fulham – 43.8% 6) Kensington and Chelsea – 42.8% 7) Richmond upon Thames – 41.8%