A COLLEGE has been awarded more than £91,000 to help tackle inactivity.

Blackburn College hopes the Sport England grant will help reduce the number of students who do less that 30 minutes of activity a week.

The Active@ Blackburn College project aims to engage with inactive students who may be reluctant to participate in physical activity.

The project will also develop sports sessions, signpost people to clubs and work with students to breakdown barriers preventing them from participating in sport.

They will also offer support to help overcome self-consciousness and provide additional support to students with a disability or learning difficulty.

It is part of Sport England’s new strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’ which is investing £5million into projects in colleges that will support their inactive students into regular activity.

Damian Stewart, head of studies for sport, said: “This is a great opportunity for the College to provide more support to its students, helping them to become more active.

“The project looks at other ways to increase an individuals’ physical activity and creating tailored offers that appeal and engage inactive students.”

It will fund the purchase of sports equipment and use of external sports instructors, whilst employing a physical activity activator to engage inactive students in physical activity and sport.

Around one in five college students, around 138,000, are inactive and many come from groups that have lower socio-economic status or from ethnic groups that are less likely to be active, according to Sport England.

Students who go to college rather than sixth form or university are more likely to be inactive.

Mike Diaper, executive director of Community Sport, said: “We are delighted to offer Blackburn College National Lottery funding to help get students active.

“College is a crucial time in a young person’s development.

“It is often the first time that activity is not a compulsory part of their study programme and therefore all too many young people become inactive.

“This funding will allow colleges to be innovative in addressing the needs and desires of their students to help embed activity in their lifestyle in college and for years to come.”

The funding was awarded to Sport England by the National Lottery.