Council set to adopt new policy to help reduce obesity

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Members of the Corporate Policy Committee have agreed to adopt a 'healthier food and drink advertising policy' as part of efforts to reduce obesity levels across the borough.

This will require advertisers to swap references to or illustrations of unhealthy food and alcoholic drinks on the Council's land, buildings or vehicles, for their healthier options.

Cllr Mark Goldsmith said "I just want a bit of clarification. In Wilmslow a couple of the roundabouts are sponsored by an Italian restaurant. All it is is the name of the restaurant on there but I am just wondering if this would stop them from advertising because they sell pizza as well as other things. So I am just trying to understand how nuanced this policy would be."

Guy Kilminster, corporate manager health improvement, responded "If they were showing a picture of the pizza, it would be just to ensure they have a couple of slices of pizza rather than whole pizza. The approach is a very pragmatic one."

Cllr Janet Clowes said: "Absolutely approve in principle. Have we got any evidence of other areas that have done this successfully because how would you actually measure it in Cheshire East. It's very difficult to measure what are effectively public health prevention initiatives."

Adding "I'm just not convinced that the changes would make that much difference I have to be honest.

"What is the buy-in from these outlets and what sort of feedback have we had from them? Because we are looking at an ICS wide initiative here it is going to therefore involve quite a lot of financing over an area that size.

"I would want just a little bit more evidence that actually this works and I haven't really be reassured by the papers I have seen today."

Guy Kilminster replied "The evidence from the areas where this has been done for a while now is that there is an impact in terms of the amount of advertising of high fat foods, or things that have high levels of salt or sugar, in the positive sense that advertisers shift to advertising their healthier options.

"In terms of the impact on public health and the levels of obesity and overweight as you said that is much harder to measure and on its own this will make no difference to that. What this is is part of a wider suite of measures to try and reduce the levels of obesity and overweight."

Adding "It's not on it's own a solution, it is part of it."

Cllr Mark Goldsmith commented "I support this in principle but I also think it's a bit of a solution without a problem for Cheshire East as we have so few advertising sites that we put out to. So I don't think it will have an impact on overall health at all but I do support it because I think it is the right thing to be doing and in future we have more advertising."

Members of the Corporate Policy Committee voted by 12 voted to 1 to approve the adoption of the draft Healthier Advertising Policy and agreed to delegate to the responsibility for rolling it out across the Council to the Director of Public Health.

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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Andy Brown
Wednesday 9th October 2024 at 2:10 pm
Councillors fiddle while Cheshire East burns.

Concentrate on the stuff that matters like the £100m deficit, a household waste collection and recycling service that is complete disarray.
Tony Haluradivth
Wednesday 9th October 2024 at 3:16 pm
Priority. Fix potholes and reopen the waste and recycling centres you recently closed otherwise you will most probably be paying double to clear illegal flytipping . Stop wasting our money on tgese campaigns and slogans...
David Hadfield
Wednesday 9th October 2024 at 8:32 pm
The above two posts are the best I've seen in years.
Yes, Councillors, concentrate on the things that matter, fix things that need repairing and stop wasting our money on such trivia.
Pot Holes ... Pot Holes ... Pot Holes ... Pot Holes ... Pot Holes ... Pot Holes ...
David Carey
Thursday 10th October 2024 at 6:31 am
What planet are these comedians on?
Instead of worrying about obesity, concentrate on the £100m deficit, waste disposal and potholes that's what residents want you to do....
Lynn Kowalska
Wednesday 16th October 2024 at 7:44 am
I agree with the above comments re financial deficit, tip closures and pot hole repairs.
I also feel that the problem of increasing obesity in the UK does need to be addressed, and there are very simple measures by which Cheshire East could demonstrate its commitment to this cause:-
** stop selling the myriad of unhealthy snacks in all of its leisure centre cafes and vending machines! ie chocolate bars and biscuits, muffins, lemon drizzle cakes, brownies, crisps, sugary drinks …
It always puzzles me that CE do a great job in providing access to exercise via its leisure centres - yet anyone using their cafes has to queue next to all these unhealthy products.
Maybe the profits from these sales subsidise running costs, but there has to be a better way.
Jon Williams
Thursday 17th October 2024 at 7:47 am
If I had a pound for every pot hole I have reported to C/E I would be able to fill my car up twice with petrol !