Call to open school sports fields

SCHOOLS are being urged to open their playing fields and sports facilities throughout summer in a bid to tackle Britain’s obesity epidemic.

Baroness Grey-thompson, the paralympic champion, and Lawrence Dallaglio, the former England rugby captain, are among those calling for an expansion of schemes to get children moving.

Ukactive, a not-for-profit body chaired by Lady Grey-thompson, says almost 40 per cent of community sport facilities in England are locked behind school gates during holidays.

Its research shows that even before the pandemic about three quarters of fitness gains made by children during the academic year were wiped out during the summer break.

Recent figures show activity levels have since slumped further, with almost one in three children doing less than half an hour’s exercise daily during the first year of lockdowns, and one in three children obese or overweight by the time they leave primary school.

Writing for Telegraph online, Lady Grey-thompson called for a mass expansion of schemes that make use of sports facilities inside school grounds.

It comes after The Daily Telegraph launched a campaign calling on ministers to put children first as the country recovers from repeated lockdowns.

Ukactive and Nike will run initiatives at 10 schools in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, with aims to scale up the “Open Doors” programme to more than 100 schools in coming years.