St Edmundsbury has the highest increase in adult sport participation in the country, and is among the top areas for active young people, women and disability sports, a Government report has shown. Sport England's Active People Survey (APS), uses the largest sample ever established for a sport and recreation survey, which allows detailed analysis of sport participation. The latest figures show that between 2006 and 2011 St Edmundsbury had the highest increase in adult sport participation in the country, the highest participation by young people and women in the East and the lowest non-participation in East Anglia.

This is against a background of disappointing results countrywide, with only 27 local authority areas increasing adult sporting participation. Factors that have helped St Edmundsbury to buck the trend include:

• Top class facilities such as our leisure centres, the athletics track, parks and open spaces.
  
• Top class partners such as Abbeycroft Leisure, Suffolk County Council, Sport England with whom we deliver top class projects like Haverhill Community Football, Victory Sports Ground, Bury St Edmunds Community Football and play and sports opportunities across the borough.
  
• Top class events such as the Tour of Britain, Suffolk Youth Games, and hosting the Rwandan 2012 Olympic and Paralympic teams.

www.sportengland.org/research/active_people_survey/active_people_survey_51.aspx