Takeaway ban linked to drop in child obesity rate

Planning policy has been linked to health improvements, a study suggests

Planning permission changes for new takeaways in a local authority area may be linked to a drop in childhood obesity, a study has suggested.

Scientists at Lancaster University analysed the impact of Gateshead Council's move in 2015 to effectively ban new fast food outlets.

Compared to other parts of north-east England which did not make the policy change, some parts of Gateshead saw a 4.8% drop in childhood obesity, researchers said.

Gateshead and Newcastle councils' public health director Alice Wiseman said policy changes could "chip away" at such health challenges.

Professor Heather Brown said Gateshead Council was one of the few local authorities in England to make the blanket rule change against takeaways.

Her team had already claimed the policy was linked with a 10% cut in the density and proportion of fast-food outlets in Gateshead.

To see if the policy could be linked with real world health changes, they compared obesity data against five councils in the North East which had not made the same move, namely Stockton-on-Tees, Durham, Northumberland, Darlington and Hartlepool.

The team only looked at data until 2019 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on planning rules.

The researchers said Year 6 pupils living in the various parts of Gateshead with the highest concentration of takeaways pre-2015 were the most affected by the policy change.

They said there was a "reduction of 4.8% in the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity" compared to the other areas they analysed.

"It's a pretty big effect," Prof Brown said, adding it included some of the most deprived children in the town.

The study concluded "restricting" fast food outlets could, as as part of a "package of policies", help to "reduce prevalence and inequalities in childhood overweight and obesity".