Plans to restict Telford children ordering takeaways while at school
Policies could be drawn up to restrict pupils ordering fast food from takeaways outside their school in a bid to drive down obesity among children.
Telford & Wrekin Council's development, business and employment department will work with the public health team to discuss ideas put forward in an annual health report.
This could see controlling the number of new fast food outlets within town centres and near schools become council policy in the future.
It would mean plans for such businesses could be turned down if the council believes a large proportion of customers could be schoolchildren.
It follows a damning report in December that revealed a quarter of all five-year-olds and seven in 10 adults in Telford & Wrekin were classed as overweight or obese.
The annual public health report has been presented to the council's nine-member cabinet by director of public health in Telford & Wrekin Liz Noakes, who told councillors: "These numbers are significant. We need to take a radical shift in our approach."
The cabinet also voted to improve emotional health and wellbeing in schools and businesses, increase the number of volunteering opportunities in the borough, and highlight how small changes to mental health can improve self-esteem and confidence.
Councillor Richard Overton, cabinet member for public health, said: "This report demonstrates how, as a co-operative council, we can all work together to ensure the health of the borough is a priority and our local policies are as joined up as possible."
The report revealed 24.2 per cent of reception year children in Telford aged four to five years were classified as overweight or obese, similar to the national average of 22.2 per cent.
More than a third of 10 and 11-year-olds were classified as overweight or obese in Telford, which was similar to the national average of 33.3 per cent. It was also estimated 70.2 per cent of adults carried excess weight and were either overweight or obese, which was significantly higher than the national average estimate of 63.8 per cent.
Nearly half classified themselves as physically active compared with the national average of 55.6 per cent, while a third said they were physically inactive, which was also significantly worse than the national average of 28.9 per cent.
