More than 100,000 of the South East’s most disadvantaged people are set to benefit from a healthy £5.6 million Lottery boost announced today. The funding will be used to promote physical activity, healthy eating and improve mental health across the region.

The Big Lottery Fund’s Well-being programme will make awards to a range of health related projects under the title ‘Chances 4 Change - Readdressing the hidden health inequalities in the South East.’ A total of 62 projects will be delivered by a combination of public, voluntary and private sector organisations, led by NHS South East Coast.

The projects aim to improve well-being across the South East and include the development of health related initiatives in the workplace, outdoor green exercise programmes, and training volunteers to support families in developing healthy lifestyles.

Alison Rowe, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for the South East, said: “The South East project is really exciting and I'm delighted that it has received an award. It's an important investment in healthy living and active lifestyles. This has become more important over the last few years, especially in the wake of growing obesity levels and the increase of mental health conditions such as stress, depression and anxiety.”

The Chances 4 Change portfolio will provide a legacy of permanent health improvements, sustainable partnerships and capacity for further improvement in the target communities. Of the 62 projects, four focus on mental health, 19 on physical activity, and 13 on healthy eating, with an additional 21 cutting across two or more of the strands. In addition, five capacity building projects will involve activities including helping to recruit and retain volunteers, and will work to co-ordinate and integrate projects through training, conferences, a website, and newsletters.

Candy Morris, Chief Executive of NHS South East Coast, said: "I am delighted that the Big Lottery Fund has agreed to give a grant of £5.6million to benefit the longer term health of people in the south east as part of the South East Health and Well-Being Programme, Chances 4 Change.  

"This is an exciting time for NHS South East Coast to lead the programme and for the wider health community that will use the money across the south east.

"Across the region there are significant inequalities in people’s life expectancy at birth and their health.  For example, the gap between the worst and best life expectancy by ward across the NHS South East Coast area is approximately eighteen years.  This is clearly unacceptable.

"I would like to acknowledge the development work done by all of the core management group to lay the foundations of a successful bid which can now be taken forward."

Simon Tanner, Regional Director of Public Health for NHS South Central and joint regional Director of Public Health for the South East, said: "This money offers a real chance to improve health and life expectancy across the whole of the South East and bring significant benefits to some of the most socially excluded people.

"It is a great opportunity to have this level of funding to commit to projects that will tackle some of the longstanding inequalities that affect people's lives and prevent them from achieving their aspirations or living as healthily or as long as they might.

"We are particularly proud that these projects will be receiving this money to use in practical ways at a local level, to ensure we do our utmost to improve the lives of those who need it most.

"Many of the projects have been developed to help address these health inequalities into the future, for example by developing healthy eating schemes for schoolchildren and supporting adults to adopt a more active lifestyle."

Sport England and the Arts Council England South East (ACSE) carried out the initial development work and laid down the foundations for the Chances 4 Change bid. The partners that make up the core management group include; Sport England, the Regional Public Health Group, ACSE and the Care Services Improvement Partnership. Their remit is to assist and advise NHS South East Coast in managing the portfolio and ensuring work is linked to emerging regional agendas and strategies.

Today’s award comes as the Big Lottery Fund hands out over £126 million in funding from its Well-being programme, to help communities across England build healthier lifestyles. The Fund is maximising the impact of the programme by mainly working with organisations that can work across more than one of the programme’s three strands and form partnerships to deliver regional and national portfolios of projects dedicated to making communities healthier.

Further information:

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 078 6750 0572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102 030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk.

Notes to Editors

• NHS South East Coast is hosting the Chances 4 Change programme to enable its development and for the funding to reach areas of disadvantage and deprivation through a range of locally based projects.
• The South East area contains two Strategic Health Authorities, NHS South East Coast -  which covers Kent, Surrey and East and West Sussex and NHS South Central  - which covers Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.
• The Well-being programme, launched in April 2006, is providing funding to support the development of healthier lifestyles and to improve well-being. The programme will focus on three strands: mental health – to help people and communities to improve mental well-being; physical activity – to help people to become more physically active in their daily lives and in their communities; and healthy eating - for children, parents and the wider community to eat more healthily. To deliver this programme, the fund will appoint a number of organisations that will each deliver a portfolio of projects in England.
• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004.
• Sport England exists to sustain and increase participation in community sport. It is a non-departmental public body and Lottery distributor. Its ambition is to get two million people participating more in sport by 2012. It does this by promoting, advising and investing in community sport. The specific ambition for the South East region is to get 300,000 more people taking part in sport and active recreation for thirty minutes, three times per week by 2012 www.sportengland.org/southeast