MPs call for tighter planning rules on fast-food outlets near schools

MPs are calling on the government to bolster the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to give local authorities more power to prevent fast-food outlets opening near schools.

The Health and Social Care Committee is challenging the government to be “more courageous in the face of industry lobbying” as it lists out recommendations to tackle obesity through food policy.

These include advice on advertising, the promotion and labelling of food, as well as making it easier for people to access healthier options. 

Referring to fast-food operators opening near schools, the committee said the government needs to prevent businesses from using loopholes in the National Planning Policy Framework to legally challenge councils trying to prevent new openings near schools.

It pointed to Gateshead Council, which in 2015 limited new fast-food outlets near schools in an area with high levels of childhood obesity, resulting in a 4.8% cut in the number of year six children recorded as overweight or obese.

But attempts to replicate this in other parts of the country have faced difficulty, with fast-food company KFC having successfully challenged more than half of 43 councils trying to do the same.

The Health and Social Care Committee is calling on the government’s current consultation on updating the National Planning Policy Framework to include tighter definitions of terms such as ‘fast-food outlet’ to ensure the policy won’t be left open to legal challenge.

The committee also suggested that public health officials should have a mandatory role in developing local planning policies. 

Health and Social Care Committee chair Layla Moran MP said: “When we say the ‘food environment’, we mean the constant bombardment of promotions and adverts we see and hear in our daily lives – on our screens, on children’s journeys home from school, as we set foot in shops and queue for the checkout. 

“The central message of this report is that we need to tackle England’s escalating obesity crisis through prevention. That means bearing down on environmental factors that push people to eat unhealthily – that coerce struggling families to buy their children products that fill them up without nourishing them. That is why the government’s food policy needs an overhaul. Perversely, the worst options are the cheapest while the healthiest are harder to access. 

“Attitudes of obesity being purely down to the individual failings are outdated and deny the reality of those living with obesity and excess weight in this country needs robust challenge. 

“We ask this government to be bold, not to fudge and delay food restrictions. While we acknowledge the costs of policy changes to the food industry, these are marginal compared to the huge costs of inaction on obesity to society, the economy and the health service. The real cost is measured in how many people suffer preventable diseases linked to being overweight or malnourished. The government needs to dig deep and prioritise the long-term health of generations to come.”

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