The Sport and Recreation Alliance (SRA) has launched a petition calling on politicians of all parties to transform physical activity provision for children and young people as part of the Right To Be Active campaign.

The campaign asks those across society – including parents – to join the call for political leaders at all levels to take radical action and embed the fundamental right of all children to be active in policy, regulations and legislation.

SRA says the government must take a lead – ahead of the Spending Review next year –
by demonstrating that expenditure on children and young people is a vital long-term investment for the development of the UK's future infrastructure and economy.

“We want to live in a country where every child has the opportunity to be physically active and is active enough to be healthy and happy," said Emma Boggis, SRA chief executive.

“This petition pushes our political leaders to commit to meaningful change and allows the public to show how strongly they feel about an issue that has now become a crisis.

“We all need to take responsibility – this doesn’t just lie with the current government, successive governments over the last forty years have failed to take long-term action and it falls upon all of us to demand serious action is taken and proactively work towards building more active communities.”

Childhood obesity is a major concern across the UK, with sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diet contributing to a crisis which now sees 20 per cent of pupils in year 6 classified as obese.

Pointing to evidence which suggests that 93 per cent of children state they'd like to be more active, SRA says there is now a "clear, overwhelming desire" for more opportunities and better access to exercise.

The serious concerns about the current health, wellbeing and physical activity outcomes for children and young people led the Alliance to publish the report:?Why are we failing our children? in July 2018.

The research found that more than 40 years of political turbulence and a "lack of consistency or long-term strategy" have combined to create an inactive nation.

To find out more – and to sign – the RIght To Be Active The Sport and Recreation Alliance (SRA) has launched a petition, click here.