Active Black Country’s Community Engagement Plans

Active Black Country’s significant focus on community engagement across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton in the first quarter of 2026 reflects expansion of work to improve our knowledge of local places and understand what matters most to people about moving more and being physically active.

Background

This approach is part of work funded by the nearly £1.3 million development grant awarded by Sport England to Black Country partners last year, aimed at boosting levels of physical activity among people living in the most deprived and inactive communities.

The Black Country needs this level of collaboration to address the large-scale challenges and underlying inequalities that prevent people from being active.

Black Country partners share a commitment to tackling physical inactivity but recognise there is huge amount of work to be done to develop a shared purpose amongst stakeholders – from the health sector, community and voluntary bodies to the transport and housing sectors – and a genuine commitment to collaboration to develop understanding of needs and identify community-based solutions.

What is the community engagement?

By listening to the collective voices of local people, communities and partners, the community engagement exercise will evidence the need, motivations, barriers and hopes of people. It will improve knowledge of the places and spaces available for people to be active, the multiple investments and the impact of the work of local organisations to breaking down the barriers that prevent people from living active, healthy lifestyles.

We want everyone in the Black Country to have their say. In partnership with the local authorities for Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton, we are providing a range of opportunities to hear from a breadth and depth of people on their ideas and to help shape future engagement.

How are we engaging?

To capture the views of diverse community voices, we are using the following communications and engagement approaches in February and March:

• Black Country Physical Activity survey (conducted by our Community Engagement partner Altair).
  => Promoted across our communication channels (social media platforms, website, newsletters), plus meetings with stakeholders and strategic partners.
  => Active Black Country Community Engagement Officers meeting with local people at places of worship, community venues, pop-up events, coffee chats/ drop ins/ meet-ups, and other events.
  => Promoted by community groups, education partners, healthcare providers, voluntary sector organisations and other local networks through their communications channels.
• Community Engagement Forums for Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton will enable community groups, organisations and local people to share their views in a safe, inclusive space and co-design local engagement opportunities, including focus groups and 1-1 meetings.
• Ring-fenced funding for further local engagement, in addition to that detailed above. This funding will respond to ideas and suggestions to better engage and understand.

Using the findings

Active Black Country is committed to working to achieve fairness across our communities and intend to ensure we use our resources to reach those most in need of support.

Data and insights gathered from this community engagement work will support our application to Sport England for new ‘place partner’ investment to help transform opportunities for physical activity across the region’s communities.

Black Country communities have put their trust in us to share their experience and perspective. Our partners will use the knowledge and learning from the community engagement work to progress solutions to influence policy, planning, service delivery and wider investments that can create equitable, accessible opportunities for people to be active and move more. It will also highlight opportunities to build on and accelerate place-based work – extending partners’ reach into new areas of the Black Country.