Telford’s civic leaders believe the borough will have lost its reputation as a “fat town” and a community awash with drink over the next two decades.
They hope a campaign of education about binge drinking, obesity and exercise will make a significant contribution to improving the health of the population.
The points are made in the newly updated Vision 2026, a blueprint for the future by Telford & Wrekin Council.
Two of the top issues addressed are Telford’s growing problems of obesity and excess boozing.
More than 80,000 adults and 2,500 children in Telford – nearly half the population – are officially labelled overweight or obese. And obesity will soon surpass smoking as the greatest cause of premature death in the borough.
More than a third of Telford men are classed as binge drinkers, while the town has the highest hospital admission rates for alcohol-related injuries in the West Midlands.
The Vision 2026 document, due to be approved by the borough cabinet tonight, says: “We will lead the way on promoting healthy lifestyles.
“This will be a place where health inequalities are reduced and the more vulnerable members of our community are properly supported in a way which addresses their needs.”
Vision 2026 says there will be a big emphasis on sickness prevention – making people much more aware of the need to take responsibility for their own health and well-being.
Sport and leisure will play a key role in improving community health, the report claims.
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25 Comments
But that’s clearly a pregnant woman, not a fat person!
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I think one or two of our Councillors need to start with themselves.
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that’s great…how about changing telford people’s mindset of car culture!!!the whole town was designed for the convenience of laziness. perhaps more cycling and running initiatives…remember Telfrod Super Saturday at the Twon Centre, anyone?
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More PR gump from T & W council!!!!
Nothing to see here
move on
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That’s all we need in Shropshire more Fat, Lazy and Obese Chavs!
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A Campaign of Education? What the point? These people already know being fat is bad for them and have made their life-style choices accordingly.
What will they waste my money on next? honestly *tut*
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Lateral thinking. You have got to think lateral when they come up with garbage like this. So what are they REALLY saying. My guess is they will be appointing half a dozen ‘FAT CONTROLLERS’ on round £60,000 a year at your expense. It is NOT the councils responsibility to tell people how to live. It IS their responsibilty to SERVE the people that pay their wages. Please, please, try and remember that.
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Let us hope the civic leaders start with themselves. Then good luck to them, it’s like It’s A Knockout in town sometimes, with the amount of super-size folks!
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John Franklyn said: Jan 12th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
“I think one or two of our Councillors need to start with themselves.”
There are more than just a couple of ‘fat cats’ with their snouts in the public sector trough.
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I work with a fair few council leaders Mr Franklyn view is misleading, they are all fighting fit and do plenty of exercise.
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they have a point though, telford is the fat capital of the midlands without a doubt.
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T & W is full of fatheads as shown by the damage they have done to the town so why not start by slimming T & W down – then you can lecture the rest of us.
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I think we need to be careful with some of the definitions here. For example ‘More than a third of Telford men are classed as binge drinkers’.
I rarely drink at all, but once in a while (perhaps 3 or 4 times a year) I will go for a drink and a natter with an old mate, and perhaps consume 5-6 pints of beer during the course of the evening.
Under the current definition, believe it or not, that makes me a binge drinker. The ‘official’ definition seems to be ‘10 or more units in one session’, a unit being say, half a pint of beer.
I would regard my alcohol consumption as abstemious, yet I’m officially a ‘binge drinker’.
I guess that’s the trouble with statistics…
On another point, given that at least 70% of the factors leading to being overweight are hereditary, this sort of witch hunt causes some offence to those including myself that are overweight. Why should I have to put up with being dismissed as ‘Fat, Lazy and Obese’ when I eat healthily, work full-time, haven’t taken any time off sick in many years, and yes, even exercise!?
Try substituting the word ‘black’ for ‘fat’ or ‘obese’ in the article and you can see how offensive it might be.
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kaiser: I’d like to nominate Dudley as the Fat Capital of the Midlands.
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Fat and obese are such ugly words. I think ‘nutritionally over-achieved’ sounds much nicer!
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‘Gravitationally attractive’ ? – much more positive.
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kaiser,
Presumably you have evidence for your claim?
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Nelson: I would like to say as a nutritionally under-achiever, that I can’t see whats wrong with calling these people fat and obese – call a spade a spade!
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I’ve no particular problem with the words fat or obese – but it would be quite wrong to assume that all overweight people (regardless of clinical sub-category) are a) lazy, b) eat unhealthily, or c) never do any exercise.
To make such generalisations about any other group on religious or ethnic grounds would be illegal – and quite rightly but it seems to be OK for overweight people. Why?
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If overweight people don’t ‘overeat’ (ie take more calories in than they burn up) where does their fat come from ?
You can’t get fat on thin air can you ?
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due to an underlying medical problem I’m over weight, I walk 4 miles a day, eat healthily and am otherwise healthy, this just sounds like the council had some money burning a hole in their pocket that they “had” to do something with, and alot of people who have posted are highly insulting, and should do a bit of research before they ope their ignorant mouths
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Patrick, your body shape and your natural size come principally from your genes. It has been proven in research that 70% of the factors leading to being overweight are genetic.
So it’s perfectly possible to eat a healthy diet, and the same amounts which for some people would keep them thin, do the same amount of physical exercise as the thin person, and yet be overweight.
You might as well ask why all people aren’t the same height.
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People are all different shapes and sizes but in terms of excess body fat (the real measure)you can’t be ‘overweight’ unless you take in too many calories for your lifestyle/BMR etc. There may be a gene which means you put on weight more easily, but if you have this you need to eat less /exercise more …
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Patrick,
As you indicate, some people are genetically more inclined to metabolise calories into fat, and will always struggle to keep their weight low. Your suggestion that all they need to do is excercise more is rather glib.
So can we therefore legitimately use the same measure of a ‘normal’ body weight for them as well as for those who are naturally inclined to be thin regardless of calorie intake?
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Peter: the “normal” body weight for aviation and cars research and design is 80kgs!!
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