Obesity rates in primary school children hit 40%

Rates of obesity in primary school children have risen across Middlesbrough

Obesity rates among children have hit 40% in half of a town's primary schools.

Middlesbrough Council said there had been a rise in the number of children who are overweight or obese by the ages of 10 and 11.

Lindsay Cook, health improvement manager at Public Health South Tees, told a meeting of councillors that "change could not simply happen overnight".

She said obesity was more prevalent in "deprived wards" and rates were "significantly higher" in Middlesbrough than the rest of the North East and England.

The data is collated each year by the National Childhood Measurement Programme, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Ms Cook said: "Wat we know now, again through evidence and research, it's the external factors that have a significant impact on the levels of obesity.

"They contribute to choices that people make, in terms of whether it's easy to be physically active, whether it's easy to access good food choices."

The worst ward was North Ormesby with 35.3% of pupils being overweight or obese.

Mark Fishpool, programme director for fitness movement You've Got This, said it was a "complex problem" and needed a systematic approach not just individual.

"Although behaviour change happens with an individual, the factors that influence that change are far more complex," he said.

"They're about the social environment in which a person lives, what their friends, their family do, what they see on social media."

Figures showed that Nunthorpe, one of the least deprived areas, was one of the healthiest wards with 16.9% of reception age children being overweight or obese with that figure rising to 25.9% when they finished primary school.