A movement.
Not a programme.
B&D MOVES is Barking and Dagenham’s community-led movement to help more people move more, more often. Not a sports scheme you sign up to. Something already happening on your street: a walk with a neighbour, a dance class, a kickabout, a cuppa after. Built with the borough, for the borough.
Belonging gets people moving.
People don’t just ask for sport. They ask for somewhere to go, something to do and people to do it with. Start there, and moving takes care of itself.
Why it
exists.
Too many people in Barking and Dagenham face barriers to being active: cost, confidence, time, caring responsibilities, not feeling safe or welcome, or simply not knowing what’s on nearby. The people who move least are rarely the people with the fewest reasons to move. They’re the people with the most in the way.
So B&D MOVES doesn’t start with new activities. It starts with the barriers, and with the people who find it hardest, and works on what they say needs to change.
Listen. Connect. Change.
Listen locally
Start with residents, lived experience and the places and groups already in each community. Local people know where the barriers are.
Connect the system
Bring community groups, health, schools, housing, transport and the council together, so the people working on the same streets actually work together.
Change the conditions
Build local capacity, test ideas in the open and use what's learned to change services, spaces and decisions, so the difference lasts.
It’s not a grants scheme, and it’s not a one-off campaign. Partners work together over years, not weeks, to change the conditions around people, so the benefits outlast any single project.
What that looks like.
A finder that works
Every open session in one place, with the cost on the listing before you go.
Find activity →Test & Learns
Small, time-limited projects run by local organisations, trying new ways in and sharing what they learn.
See what's being tried →Check-ins without names
People tap “I'm here” at a session. No app, no names. Honest numbers become evidence for the groups running things.
How check-ins work →A brand anyone can use
Logos, posters and templates, free for any group getting people moving. Make your own in minutes.
Make a poster →Who’s
behind it.
No single organisation owns B&D MOVES. It’s a partnership, and the decisions are shaped by what residents and local organisations say, not handed down. It’s backed by Sport England through its Place Expansion programme, which supports places taking this longer, community-led route.
The work is delivered by local people and organisations. Our job is to make it easier: connecting people, removing barriers and sharing what works, in the open, on this site.
Choose the route that fits you.
Still curious?
The questions people actually ask, answered straight. Or one email a month with what’s new. No spam, leave any time.