Doncaster residents have the right to be able to walk safely to the shops; play in the park; cycle to work; have access to good quality leisure centres; and be in walking distance from local and affordable activities.
Get Doncaster Moving is not one single organisation or project. It is the name of Doncaster's approach to tackling inequalities in physical activity. It involves a wide range of stakeholders working together to achieve our shared vision of healthy and vibrant communities through physical activity and sport.
Physical activity and sport contributes to healthier people. But it is about more than just physical and mental health. Physical activity and sport can and should be fun and enjoyable; often bringing groups of people and communities together, raising aspirations and helping people to achieve them. This all adds to the vibrancy and energy of our place.
Despite this, about a third of us in Doncaster find it harder than others to be regularly active in our day-to-day lives, and we know that there are people in Doncaster's communities who currently face a disproportionate number of barriers and have an unequal chance/choice to be active. Increasing the levels of activity will not simply be addressed by encouraging or educating our residents to do more exercise or sport. We need to collectively provide the right support, policy and environments so residents are able be active as part of their daily lives.
Doncaster residents have the right to be able to walk safely to the shops; play in the park; cycle to work; have access to good quality leisure centres; and be in walking distance from local and affordable activities. Everybody can play their part in activating those rights of our residents while also challenging our decisions on what might negatively impact on the health and vibrancy of our communities.
When we say everybody, we mean everybody. This means that there is an endless list of valuable stakeholders, and our approach requires collaboration and leadership across four main groups:
Residents
Residents have a leading role in Get Doncaster Moving. We live, work and play in a large number of unique communities across the borough, and it is in these communities where opportunities to be active will be created and maintained. Our community-centred approach, in partnership with Well Doncaster, means that we are working with communities to co-create long-term, sustainable change. We are working hard to listen to what residents are saying and understand what matters most to people so that we can take action and tackle our opportunities and challenges together. You can read more about this and how you can get involved: Well Doncaster
Get Doncaster Moving Network
The Network includes any individual, group, business, department or organisation who is committed to taking action and playing their part in supporting residents in Doncaster to access physical activity. Read more about the Network and how you can get involved: Join the network
Get Doncaster Moving Board
The Board is made up of senior representatives from the public, private and voluntary sectors who share a common vision. The Board represents and advocates Get Doncaster Moving at a strategic level. Read more about the Board: Advisory Board
Get Doncaster Moving Team
The small central team is based within Doncaster Council. They help to co-ordinate the partnership and drive themes of work. Read more about the team here: Meet the team
Get Doncaster Moving Principles
The Get Doncaster Moving Principles are driven by what we have learnt from communities, what we know about Doncaster and the ethos of 'doing things differently' to test new approaches.
We are committed to tackling the stubborn inequalities in participation. In Doncaster, we have identified that the people who need the most support to make small increases in their activity levels are families and children, people on low incomes and people who are regularly inactive.
We are taking an evidence-based and community-led approach. We are adamant that the work that we do now must be sustainable, and bring about a generational journey, to change our population inactivity levels.
Communities have told us that they want and need opportunities to last. Our approach focuses capacity and resources on changes that will have a long lasting impact on improving the conditions for residents to be physically active.
We strongly believe that unless we stick by our principles, Get Doncaster Moving will become a short-lived project or programme which fundamentally doesn't change inactivity in Doncaster.
Our compassionate approach to weight
Doncaster's Compassionate Approach to Weight is a new approach to issues of weight and health that is driven primarily by compassion, takes blame away from individuals, and fully acknowledges the mental and financial burden poverty and inequality places on people.
Get Doncaster Moving endorses a Compassionate Approach to weight. This means that we commit to supporting physical activities that allow people of all sizes, abilities, and interests to engage in enjoyable movement, to the degree that they choose.
Through our interventions, we pledge to actively challenge weight stigma wherever possible, and tackle the social and environmental barriers to participation in physical activity, so that all individuals are able to access the health and non-health related benefits of movement.
Get Doncaster Moving Strategy
The first Get Doncaster Moving Strategy was published in 2018, following a twelve-month development period that used the latest local and national data, and consulted with a wide range of stakeholders.
Our systems change approach and adopting new ways of working to increase physical activity in Doncaster was a step change for us all back in 2018. It recognised the stubbornness and complexity of the challenge at hand, and that a long term view was needed in order to work towards real and lasting change.
This approach enabled us to access support and funding that has helped Get Doncaster Moving become more than a strategy, but a way of working that has true impact and influence. Get Doncaster Moving became one of Sport England's 12 Local Delivery Pilots, enabling us to work deeply within our communities, to grow together and to ensure that our actions are resident led.
We have also seen, and continue to see, increased capital investment into our leisure facilities, and following our hosting of the initial Tour de Yorkshire, have continued to grow our ability to host international sports events.
But despite all of this success, there are deep rooted challenges remaining. In the years since we launched our first Get Doncaster Moving strategy, we have seen the world change in ways none of us could have anticipated. The covid-19 pandemic upturned all of our lives and we are now beginning to see the long lasting impact this has had on our collective mental and physical health and wellbeing.
Doncaster residents have the right to be able to access opportunities for physical activity, sport or movement where they live, and the barriers stopping more people doing this need to be fully understood and removed. This can only be achieved together and our updated strategy highlights what we will focus on next, to work towards this important goal.
As we expressed in the first strategy, "we hope many others will join our quest to encourage everyone in Doncaster to enjoy the benefits of being physically active in their day to day lives". This still stands today and probably more so, as all do our bit to work towards a thriving place, people and planet.
To find out more and download a copy of our refreshed strategy, please visit the dedicated webpage: GDM Strategy
