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The 2012 Olympics were supposed to inspire a generation to take up sport but as Tory cuts keep forcing leisure facilities to close, getting involved is increasingly difficult.

A Mirror investigation reveals the UK has lost 1,295 grass pitches, swimming pools, sports halls and athletic tracks during the past two years of austerity.

It comes as a Sport England report yesterday revealed 2.3 million children and young people – 32.9% – do less than 30 minutes of physical activity a day.

And NHS figures showed the proportion who are severely obese has gone up by more than a third since 2007.

Commonwealth gold medal winner Conrad Williams, 34, said: “People talk about an Olympic legacy, but it is six years later and we are already cutting off people from joining the conveyor belt that leads to big success.”

(Image: Getty)

Figures discovered by the Labour Party revealed England has been stripped of 100 swimming pools at a time when nearly half of 11-year-olds leave primary school unable to swim.

Some 361 individual sports halls, 12 athletic tracks and 817 grass pitches have been scrapped.

Shadow Sports Minister Rosena Allin-Khan said the stats “cast a truly dark cloud over how seriously the Government takes fitness and well-being”.

Sprinter Conrad, who won gold with England in the 4x400m at Glasgow 2014, fears closures will deprive the UK of the next generation of athletic stars.

He trains teenage runners at Crystal Palace Arena in South East London, which is currently at risk. The arena, the home of British athletics until the Olympic stadium opened, was where Conrad used to train – and he is campaigning to save it.

(Image: Dr Rosena Allin Khan)

He said: “If we don’t have facilities which are open and near people, then we are not going to see success and we’re going to lose our reputation as a great sporting nation.”

The former European 400m ­champion also said closures made sports like athletics harder for people from ordinary backgrounds to break into.

He said: “There is so much talent in this country in the inner cities and in deprived areas. But if they don’t have places near then to train, or see people who are like them achieving success, then they won’t get involved.”

Not only are kids more likely to be obese than ever before, but just one in 30 are getting their daily recommended exercise, a study by the universities of Exeter and Plymouth found.

Experts studied 807 year five children from 32 schools in Devon and discovered one in 25 children in their last year of primary school is so severely overweight they are considered obese.

The number of children being treated for Type 2 diabetes is 10 times larger than previously thought, the study said.

The UK has lost 2,419 grass pitches, swimming pools, individual sports halls and athletic tracks since 2016 and gained just 1,124 – a net loss of 1,295.

They include Sansome Walk swimming pool in Worcester, which closed in 2017, bringing an end to more than 160 years of swimming at the site.

(Image: Wales News Service)

Other facilities under threat include Pontllanfraith and Cefn Fforest leisure centres in Caerphilly, South Wales. Hundreds of locals campaigning to save them were joined by ex-Labour leader Neil Kinnock as they took to the streets.

Dad-of-four Dean Jones, of Pontllanfraith, said: “This is about quality of life for my kids – they get exercise and they are getting to be part of a team.

“We can’t seem to get the importance of that over to the council. It doesn’t seem to matter about the consequences for their health.

“Keeping these centres open doesn’t cost that much compared to the massive benefit it has for our children - I don’t know why politicians don’t get that.” In Somerset, eight swimming pools are going to be transferred to nearby schools to cut out the cost of paying a company to manage them.

And in Pendle, Lancs, the council is reviewing its support for leisure centres in Barnoldswick, Colne and Nelson.

Labour says the lack of facilities makes it especially difficult for the less well-off to get the exercise which doctors agree is essential to a healthy lifestyle.

It blamed the Government for slashing funding for councils, which own many of the pools and playing fields, by 26% since 2010.

(Image: Getty)

Cash-strapped town halls are having to take tough decisions when it comes to leisure facilities, with many handing them to private companies to push the cost off their books.

Dr Allin-Khan said: “We know the positive impact good fitness levels have on physical and mental health, but the Government have not listened to the experts. The Olympic legacy is in tatters – there is no way for ministers to get away from this.

“Hundreds of millions of pounds of investment in local sports facilities are being ruined by cuts to local authorities.

“While some members of the public can afford expensive gym memberships and access to private adventure parks, these perks are often financially out of reach for the most vulnerable in society.”

The Government insists many of the grass pitches have been replaced by more modern all-weather artificial grass pitches – 248 of which have been opened between 2016 and 2017.

A Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokeswoman said: “We are completely committed to helping people get active and are investing £1billion in grassroots sport.

“Since 2016, Sport England has also invested £27million to help build new state-of-the-art health and leisure ­facilities across the country.”