Healthy food awards helping to tackle high rates of obesity in Blackpool

Too many fast food outlets have created an 'obesogenic' environment in Blackpool which is making it harder for people to lose weight.

That is the warning from the town's director of public health as Blackpool's updated Healthy Weight Strategy covering the next five years was approved.

Dr Arif Rajpura told the town's Health and Wellbeing Board: "For such a long time people have individualised the problem of obesity and said it's your fault. But it's the obesogenic environment which has influenced people."

He said easy access to unhealthy, cheap food was among the main reasons for surging levels of obesity.

Data from 2020/21 (Sport England Active Lives Survey) shows an estimated 70 per cent of adults in Blackpool are overweight or obese, which is the equivalent of 77,000 people – compared to the national figure of 63 per cent.

Dr Rajpura added: "We need to tackle this holistically, and already we are seeing the benefits of the sugar levy, for example with less tooth extractions, and that needs to happen with national policy."

The government introduced the sugar tax in 2018 to encourage drinks manufacturers to reformulate their products as part of measures to reduce sugar intake. Dr Rajpura said steps being taken in Blackpool to tackle obesity included the free school breakfast scheme aimed at giving primary school pupils a healthy start to the day.

A total of 163 outlets have also now signed up to the Healthy Choices Award which recognises food businesses which include healthy options on their menus, while work is also being done with the Blackpool Food Bank to ensure people take home healthy food with recipes also provided.

Planning rules are also being used to restrict the opening of new hot food takeaways in areas where there are high levels of childhood obesity. A report presented to the council's Levelling Up Scrutiny Committee in November said Blackpool had the highest density of fast food outlets in the country, outside the City of London.