Dudley Council has been awarded £4.5m by the government’s Healthy Community Challenge Fund to help improve health and prevent childhood obesity across the borough.

Dudley’s scheme, entitled Let’s Go Outside, aims to encourage families to make the most of outdoor areas by transforming parks, play areas and nature reserves into ‘family health hubs’.

Local parks will receive new developments such as outdoor gyms, toilets, indoor spaces and cycle storage, as well as new activity programmes such as led walks, cycle trails, community events days and sports coaching.

Valerie Little, Dudley Council’s director of public health, said: “The Let’s Go Outside programme encourages people to lead healthy lifestyles. We are delighted to have been successful in our bid for funding and we are now putting together the details of the implementation plan with partners and members of the community.”

The council will now enter into a three-month developmental stage around final consultations, finer detail planning, sourcing and researching equipment and ensuring community involvement, and the scheme is expected to officially launch in February 2009.

The other towns to receive money from the £30m Health Community Challenge Fund are Tewkesbury, Halifax, Thetford, Tower Hamlets, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Sheffield and Portsmouth.