Almost half of the people in the Great Yarmouth borough say they do not have enough time to exercise, a survey has claimed.

The borough council is currently looking at its sports and leisure offerings, which has involved research into the physical activity levels of its residents.

And of those who participated in the survey, 44pc admitted to having done no sporting activity in the past week.

Those who had not taken part in any sport identified shortage of time and cost as the main reasons for their lack of activity, Forty-seven percent of those surveyed said they did not have enough time, while 41pc claimed it was too expensive.

Lack of motivation and having nobody to exercise with were also identified as key barriers.

The survey, which was completed by 397 people, also showed that eight out of 10 participants would like to do more physical activity.

The report comes as the borough council looks at how it can improve sporting opportunities for years to come,

On Thursday, its housing and neighbourhood committee will discuss the survey's findings and what priorities should be set to get more people active.

Kate Watts, the officer who prepared the report, said parks in the borough were key to people's physical activity, but fears around safety were an obstacle.

She said: 'We asked a question around our public parks as a key place for activity, with 60pc using the parks as a place to walk and 61pc of respondents having accessed a local park in the past 12 months.

'However, 32pc cited fears of safety as a reason for not using parks, citing anti-social behaviour, dog mess, drunks, groups of homeless people and young people.'

Meanwhile, the survey also looked into the ways people make use of two of the borough's leisure facilities - the Marina Centre and the Wellesley Road recreation ground, both in Great Yarmouth.

Two-thirds of the respondents said they had not visited the Marina in the past year, while nearly 90pc had not used the Wellesley.

The consensus among these responses was that the Marina needed to offer greater value for money and that people were unaware of the Wellesley's offerings.