THE head of Sport England has criticised the Government for failing to improve fitness and cut crime by improving sports and leisure facilities.

Roger Draper, chief executive of Sport England, was speaking exclusively to The Northern Echo a week after the launch of a major new fitness campaign in the North-East.

Mr Draper said that his organisation was lobbying Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown to persuade them to release more funds for sport and leisure facilities.

With a growing health crisis caused by a combination of lack of exercise and poor diet, Sport England believes that more taxpayers' money should be spent on upgrading facilities.

"Most of our major leisure facilities were built in the 1970s and they are in desperate need of an overhaul," said Mr Draper.

"Part of the problem was the inability of local authorities to find large sums to refurbish and expand leisure facilities because sport and leisure was seen as being low down on the list of priorities.

"When it comes to choosing between a new hospital, a new school or a new leisure facility, local authorities will go with education and health."

Mr Draper said that, in football terms, if investment in sport and leisure was compared with other countries it would be the case of "Finland 9, England 1; Germany 7, England 1; France 5, England 1.

On a recent visit to Bishop Auckland, County Durham, as part of a fact-finding tour, Mr Draper said he was told by local police that organised free sporting activities, such as swimming and football, had a big impact on reducing local crime rates.

The call for extra funding was backed by North-East sports star Steve Cram at the launch of Everyday Sport in Gateshead last week.

Cram said: "Local authorities have tended to neglect those areas (sports and leisure centres) because of what is perceived as a greater need elsewhere."

Councils said budget cuts were affecting the state of leisure centres and swimming pools and that the future lay in partnership approaches.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said local authorities had been given large year-on-year settlements by the Government and it was up to local authorities to determine how funds should be spent.