Councils have been challenged to cut physical inactivity by 1% a year after a new study revealed the extent to which millions of people fail to take regular exercise.

Not for profit health organisation ukactive examined data from local authorities across England and found the 15 most inactive areas also had the highest rates of premature deaths.

There was a marked correlation between inactivity and poverty with a third of people in deprived areas failing to take half an hour’s exercise a week compared with a quarter in more affluent areas.

However, ukactive found little evidence of a link between the availability of green spaces and levels of inactivity. This suggests it is ‘the programming, promotion and utilisation of green space that is key, rather than the volume that is available to local people’, the report said.

Areas with the highest levels of inactivity also had a third fewer leisure facilities per person compared with those with low inactivity. But ukactive said in some cases ‘fewer, high quality, well designed leisure facilities have been effective in driving down inactivity levels’.

Launching Turning the Tide of Inactivity, ukactive urged local authorities to lead a campaign to reduce levels of inactivity by 1% a year for five years – a move it said would save the UK economy £1.2bn.

Fred Turok, chair of ukactive, said: ‘It's no longer acceptable that physical inactivity remains the forgotten cause of death in the UK. More deprived areas are faring worse in a physical inactivity pandemic, with no national strategy to improve our fitness levels, from before we take our first steps to our last.

‘Our report shows people in deprived areas are more likely to suffer a premature death because of a lack of physical activity. If we are to turn the tide, councils, government, and health and leisure providers need to work together to get more people, more active more often. Supporting inactive people to become more active, even for just ten minutes a day, is where the biggest health gains lie.’

The study found Manchester had the highest level of physical inactivity with more than 40% of people categorised as inactive. The lowest rate was found in Wokingham where the figure was just 18%

Cllr Paul Andrews, executive member for adult health and wellbeing at Manchester City Council, said: 'Physical inactivity is one of the biggest public health concerns across the country, and Manchester is no exception to this. Fortunately the city has some excellent sports facilities and we have a good uptake of mainstream leisure services. Results from Sport England's Active People Survey - which measures the number of people taking part in sport across the nation - show Manchester's figures for 2012/13 are better than the average for England.

'Also in Manchester we have an Active Lifestyle Service, which promotes activity in a community setting for people who would rather do exercise instead of traditional sport. In the community we've also seen tremendous success from events like the Wythenshawe Games - where in the first year alone around 10,000 people got involved in sports and cultural activities in the town's own Olympic-inspired event.'