Child obesity a ballooning problem as one-quarter start school overweight [IrishTimes]
- Published: 03 February 2011
LONDON LETTER: Fast-food outlets and incorrect notions of ideal body size pose big threats to child health
A WALK down one street in Oldham, a struggling town near Manchester where one in five of 10-year-old children is officially overweight, reveals the crisis of obesity facing the population and health services.
In one half-mile stretch of the Huddersfield Road, between St James’s Church and the Ripponden Road, there are 19 takeaways of all kinds, from fish-and-chip shops to curry and kebab houses, with more seeking to open. “Every time a shop closes, some fast-food operator wants to open,” said Oldham councillor Rod Blyth this week.
“When you get that many, the number of people on the street in daytime falls away. The street dies off. It is only alive at night.”
Last night, Oldham council met to consider a plan to claw back some of the ground lost in recent years, agreeing that, in future, no more than two fast-food shops can be located adjacent to each other, and that the streetscape should be broken up by other types of shops.
But another element of the plan has grabbed local headlines – its call for a £1,000 levy from fast-food shops to go into a healthy-eating promotion fund. Inevitably, the headline writers dubbed it “a fat tax”.
The council does not have power to impose the tax, though it will lobby Westminster for a change of law to allow it to do so.
The decision to grant planning permission for a Kentucky Fried Chicken on Huddersfield Road last summer was the final straw for local Church of England rector Paul Plumpton, who has to clear his churchyard of litter and vomit every morning.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
