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Takeaways ban near schools?
TAKEAWAYS could be banned from opening near Blackpool schools as the war on obesity is stepped up.
The ground-breaking move is to be discussed by council chiefs after it was revealed the resort's schoolchildren are piling on the pounds.
A report into the impact of fatty foods showed Blackpool has a staggering 40 fast food shops for every secondary school.
Blackpool Council currently has no planning restrictions to limit the proximity of the shops to schools – although almost one in five 10 and 11-year-olds are obese.
Coun Sue Ridyard, a member of the town hall's scrutiny committee and governor of St Mary's Catholic College in Layton, said: "Blackpool Council is doing all they can to prevent underage drinking, but legislatively what are they doing about unhealthy food and preventing obesity?
"This can have a major impact on health in later life, but Blackpool.
"Our research revealed Blackpool has the highest amount of fast food shops per school – ranking it the second highest in the country behind Brighton.
"The council has done nothing to regulate this. I want them to do the same as Waltham Forest in Walthamstow, London, which included a planning policy which bans fast food shops from opening within 400m of schools."
The council, last week, approved plans for a sandwich shop to expand.
But some residents are outraged The Sandwich Shop, on Grange Road, can now use its forecourt for outdoor seating, and is allowed to sell hot food, including chips.
Peter Mowbray, a senior theatre practitioner at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, who lives near the shop on Grange Road, and has three children, Bradley, seven, Charlotte, 13, and Christian, 17, says it actively attracts schoolchildren with special offers on unhealthy food.
He said: "There are queues and queues of children along the street before school, and after school.
"I see the results of obesity first-hand at the hospital – everything from depression or heart disease.
"It is outrageous the council was able to grant permission to expand and sell hot food, purely because there are no planning restrictions in Blackpool to prevent this."
At the town hall meeting, Tony Langford, owner of The Sandwich Shop, said: "We will not be targeting children with chips.
"We do have a healthy selection of sandwiches, and St Mary's students are not allowed out of school at lunch time so they do not buy their lunch here.
"If they visit after school we have healthy snacks to choose from."
But the campaign to block the granting of planning permission to any fast food outlets within a certain distance to schools has gained the backing of an influential Blackpool health boss.
Dr Arif Rajpura, director of public health for Blackpool, said: "I absolutely support the aims of this review – obesity in Blackpool is a very important issue and concern.
"School meals are now regulated by the Government, and being healthy doesn't mean they are boring."
Statistics from this year's National Weighing Programme in schools show obesity of Year Six children in Blackpool has risen from 18.8 per cent to 19.6 per cent.
This gives Blackpool the second worse record, behind Brighton.
Blackpool's preventing childhood obesity scrutiny committee conducted an extensive inquiry into obesity in 2007/08, discovering the national average for the number of takeaway-style shops per secondary school was 23 to 24 for the North West.
The scrutiny committee is asking Blackpool Council's planning department to "explore the feasibility of a consultation to restrict the number of fast food takeaways in close proximity to schools".
It will now be discussed by the council's executive committee.
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Weather for Blackpool
Sunday 27 May 2012
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Temperature: 14 C to 27 C
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