The London borough of Newham, which hosted the 2012 Olympics, is the least physically active place in England, a report by ukactive reveals.

It found that around four in every 10 adults in Newham fail to do even 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, despite a government pledge to use the Games to create a lasting legacy of fitness.

Overall, 29% of people in England are classed as physically inactive (doing less than 30 minutes of moderate exercises, such as cycling or fast walking, a week), but Newham had 39% of residents inactive making it have lowest levels of activity in the country.

For the study, ukactive looked at 150 local authorities in England but says the results are not about good and bad in terms of performance in tackling inactivity – Newham has pledged one of the country’s biggest investments, £2.1 million in 2014-15.

Data shows that more than 70% of councils have raised their allocated budget on physical activity, with councils allocating 4% of their public health grant to tackling inactivity in 2014-15 compared with 2% in 2013-14.

David Stalker, ukactive’s CEO, said: “We’ve known for some time that we’re facing an uphill battle to reverse the inactivity trend and while the increase in funding represents a seismic shift in thinking amongst local authorities, building a sound evidence base to underpin the activity will be the ultimate difference between success and failure.”

Source: ukactive (formerly the FIA)