New plans launched for a healthier Warrington

Warrington Borough Council’s Public Health and Growth teams have launched two new strategies aimed at creating a happier, healthier, more active future for local people.

The Warrington ‘Move More, More Often’ and the ‘Eat Well, Feel Well’ strategies were launched on Friday 12 July. 

To celebrate the launch of the strategies a range of partners and residents came together at Bank Park to begin their journey for a healthier future with a walk around the park. 

Together, the three-year plans will provide the framework for ensuring as many Warrington residents as possible are supported and empowered to build physical activity and healthy diets into their everyday lives.  

Move More, More Often

This Active Warrington-led strategy is the vision for Warrington to be a place where being physically active and moving more is normal for all, regardless of age, gender, sexuality, disability, ethnicity, or income. 

Despite the positive impact that being regularly active has on physical and mental health, approximately half of Warrington children and young people, and 3 out of 10 Warrington adults do not meet the UK physical activity guidelines. 

The strategy outlines the approach that all partners will take to increase physical activity opportunities for those that are less likely to be active and enable everyone to move more, more often. 

It will focus on building inclusive activity opportunities into communities, health and social care and education settings and workplaces. It also sets outs plans to actively promote participation in sport for everyone.

Eat Well, Feel Well

This strategy aims to make Warrington a place where the healthier choice is the easier choice, so people can feel well and stay at or get to a healthy weight. 

It sets out how public health, GP surgeries, pharmacies, hospitals, voluntary organisations and schools can work together to help people eat healthier food and be more active.

This includes food growing schemes, access to fresh drinking water and healthier food options in schools, workplaces, hospitals and community venues. It also includes working with food and drink businesses – including takeaways and supermarkets - to offer healthier choices and limit unhealthy marketing to children.

A key priority will be to tackle health inequalities between people of different ages and backgrounds and the impact that factors such as lack of reliable access to affordable, healthy food can have on a person’s weight.

The Eat Well, Feel Well strategy also sets out a number of aims which will help ensure healthy diets are complemented by more active lifestyles, through the renewal of buildings and outdoor spaces to help people move more, new cycle lanes for active travel, and more.

To support this work, Warrington has joined dozens of other councils in adopting the ‘Healthy Weight Declaration’. Developed by North West based charity, Food Active, this declaration gives councils additional tools and resources to support their residents to eat well and feel well.  

Progress on both strategies will be tracked and reported regularly.

Cllr Tony Higgins, cabinet member for Communities, Culture and Leisure, said:

Dave Williams, a Warrington resident and volunteer for Warrington Disability Partnership said:

Cabinet member for health and wellbeing and adult social care, Cllr Maureen McLaughlin, said:

Local Warrington resident, Eileen said: