An app to promote exercise has been launched.

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy has partnered with NHS Waltham Forest Clinical Commissioning Group on a local public health project, StowSteppers.

It is a project to help increase the amount of walking and exercise undertaken in Walthamstow.

Residents can use the MoveSpring app and sync their step counters on their phones to share the number of steps taking individually or as part of the team into a leaderboard.

So far 300 residents have signed up to the scheme which launched on January 1 - taking a total of nearly four million steps in the first few days.

Prizes will be awarded to those at the top of the leaderboard by the end of the first month.

Stella Creasy said: "‘Prevention is the best cure so staying active is crucial to staying healthy- but I know from my own experience how hard it can be to get motivated. That’s why it’s great to work with Movespring and the Waltham Forest CCG to set up the StowSteppers competition and have the incentive to see how many residents can do more steps than me or my team- with hundreds now taking part I’m going to have to do a lot of walking to keep up!"

According to the NHS, a person is recommended to take 150 minutes of active exercise per week.

Reaching 10,000 steps a day is a good step towards that target.

Anwar Khan, local GP and chair of Waltham Forest CCG said: "I think StowSteppers is a great idea since it promotes exercise which not only helps people to stay active but also has many health benefits."

For more information visit: https://link.movespring.com/join?groupId=1444&orgCode=STOWSTEPPERS or download the free Movespring app on their phones using the 'Stowstepper' code.