Doncaster has been working resolutely on addressing physical inactivity, as set out in the Get Doncaster Moving Strategy (2017). In December 2017, Sport England recognised our compelling vision for change. We were selected as one of twelve Local Delivery Pilots (LDPs) across the country to test new ways of working and explore what it takes to secure population scale change in physical activity behaviour.
About a third of people in Doncaster find it difficult to be active on a regular basis, and we know that people who are most impacted by health, social, economic and other inequalities are likely to find it harder to be active than people who face the least inequality. To support our whole population to change and sustain physical activity behaviour, the Doncaster's policies, places, spaces and people all need to work coherently as a 'whole system' to make physical activity and easier choice. We want our LDP to play its part in tackling inequalities by influencing change across Doncaster's 'whole system'.
To utilise physical activity and sport to contribute to our inclusive economic growth ambitions and explore how it can support our residents to benefit from Doncaster's aspirations across all its communities.
The LDP will focus on:-
- people on low incomes
- children and families
- inactive people
Our LDP approach is underpinned by robust engagement with residents, which has shaped the way we work. Communities have told us that they want and need opportunities to last; they must be at the heart of everything we do. We are adamant that the work that we do now must be sustainable, and bring about our generational journey to change our population inactivity levels.
Our approach focuses capacity and resources on changes that will have a long lasting impact on improving the conditions for residents to move more and be physically active. We know that short-term projects can have a positive effect on changing the lives of individual people. However, we know that this often creates an expectation and a reality that opportunities will come and go in our communities, where they are reliant on external funding to continue them.
Sport England have always been much more than a funder of our work. They work directly and collaboratively with us to test and learn from new approaches to address the stubborn inequalities that exist among the least active in Doncaster, and there is a commitment to continue on our shared venture until at least 2025. We are four years in to our LDP journey, which has so far evolved to include these work themes:
- Active Communities
- Communications
- Evaluation and Learning
- Parks and Open Spaces
- Active Travel
- Dance
- Children and Young People
- Impact of Major Sport events
The learning from our approach is informing how we implement the Get Doncaster Moving strategy; particularly how we tackle inequality and support the least active people in Doncaster. We are taking an iterative approach to our themes of work, and future themes are likely to emerge along with the development and delivery of the Get Doncaster Moving Strategy.
LDP application process
Our application to become a Local Delivery Pilot (LDP) started with an expression of interest in March 2017, followed by a detailed 2nd stage submission and a visit to Doncaster by Sport England representatives in September 2017.
Stage 1 expression of interest (March 2017) (PDF, 528 Kb)
This document is the first application made in March 2017 to be involved in the pilot.
Stage 2 submission (September 2017) (PDF, 740 Kb)
This is the second application made to Sport England in September 2017.
Process Learning Reports
The Get Doncaster Moving Team undertake regular process learning. This is to help the team to reflect on what change is happening (or not), how and why. The learning is summarised in reports to cover a 6-month period; some reports focus on specific learning themes, while others are broad in nature. The diagram below shows the components of our approach to process learning.
Process Learning Report 1 (April 2018 – September 2018) (PDF, 603 Kb)
Process Learning Report 2 (October 2018 – March 2019) (PDF, 332 Kb)
Process Learning Report 3 (April 2019 – September 2019) (PDF, 1.2 Mb)
Process Learning Report 4 (October 2019 – March 2020) (PDF, 916 Kb)
Process Learning Report 5 (April 2020 – September 2020) (PDF, 838 Kb)
Process Learning Report 6 (October 2020 – March 2021) (PDF, 1.1 Mb)
Process Learning Report 7 (April 2021 - September 2021) (PDF, 114 Kb)
Overview of our learning, using a new reporting format of 'Celebrate,' 'Share,' 'Explore with others' and 'Where next'.
Process Learning Report 7 - Celebrate (April 2021 - Sept 2021) (PDF, 4 Mb)
Process Learning Report 7 - Share (April 2021 - Sept 2021) (PDF, 744 Kb)
Process Learning Report 7 - Explore With Others (April 2021 - Sept 2021) (PDF, 294 Kb)
Process Learning Report 7 - Where Next (April 2021 - Sept 2021) (PDF, 340 Kb)
Process Learning Report 8 (October 2021 - March 2022) (PDF, 1.1 Mb)
The LDP Story
The story so far (February 2019) (PDF, 2.9 Mb)
The story so far (April 2020) (PDF, 6.9 Mb)
Evaluation reports and associated documents
Baseline Report (July 2019) (PDF, 2.7 Mb)
Our research partners, CFE are undertaking a process and outcome evaluation of the first two years of the Doncaster LDP to understand ‘what’ happens as a result of the pilot and ‘how’ and ‘why’ change occurs. This report summarises the baseline position for the Doncaster LDP, describing the outcomes identified as priorities for the LDP so far.
Method Review (September 2019) (PDF, 324 Kb)
This document summarises the proposed method for the main stage of CFE Research’s evaluation of the Doncaster Local Delivery Pilot (LDP).
Theory Of Change (2019-2020) (Document, 75 Kb)
The Theory of Change outlines both system and population outcomes for Doncaster as a whole (that is, all Doncaster Residents).
Year One Evaluation Report (May 2020) (PDF, 1.2 Mb)
An evaluation report of the Local Delivery Pilot, 12 months on from the Baseline Report.
Impact report (December 2021) (PDF, 2.4 Mb)
A summary of Doncaster LDP’s progress against the outcome measures specified at the start of the evaluation.
Sport England and other LDP resources
Sport England are helping local places and partners to develop sport and physical activity in their area, as well as trying to learn more about the location-specific barriers and inequalities people face when trying to get active. Here are some links to the national and local learning from the local delivery pilots and place-based working.
- Sport England's Local Delivery approach can be found on their website here.
- Sport England's summary of the LDP learning – "People and Places: A story of doing it differently" (February 2021) (full version here or summary here)
- Sport England's "Putting it into practice: tools to support tackling inactivity through system change" (October 2021) here.
