Obesogenic Environment in Birmingham

Andy Baker

Public Health Information Team

Workshop

Delivering a health-promoting environment to tackle obesity in Birmingham

www.bhwp.nhs.uk

Obesity in Birmingham

• Birmingham was recently termed the ‘fattest’ city in Europe, other reports also rank both adult and childhood obesity as very high, and this is on the rise

• Diseases relating to overweight and obesity currently cost the NHS in Birmingham around £330m each year. Including costs such as lost earnings due to premature mortality or sickness, as a result of obesity, the total cost to the city each year is expected to be £2.6 billion

• The city has significantly lower rates of healthy eating and physical activity than England on average, whilst having a significantly higher prevalence of both Type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease

• Children in the most deprived areas of the city are significantly more likely to be obese, whilst those in the most affluent areas are significantly less likely to be obese

www.bhwp.nhs.uk

Hot Food Takeaways (Class A5)

• 928 in city– Comparable number of takeaways per head to

Waltham Forest and Barking and Dagenham prior to their supplementary planning documents

– Nearly five times as many takeaways per head as Chicago (international partner city)

– Does not include McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Subway as they are generally licensed as Class A3 – restaurants

• Varies substantially by ward– Ladywood has 57 hot food takeaways

– Edgbaston has 3 hot food takeaways

The definition of a Class A5 hot food takeaway is an establishment whose primary business is the sale of hot food for consumption off the premises

Use Class A5 under the Town and Country Planning

(Use Classes) Order 1987 as amended

Examples include

Pizza takeaway

Kebab Shop

Fried Chicken

Fish & Chips

Chinese Takeaway

Balti / Curry Takeaway

www.bhwp.nhs.uk

Location of hot food takeaways across the city

• There are nearly four times as many hot food takeaways in the most deprived areas of the city than in the most affluent

• 71% of all primary and secondary schools in the city have a hot food takeaway within 400m, some have as many as 19 within this distance

Local Centres

These centres will be the preferred locations for retail, office and

entertainment developments and for community facilities (e.g. health centres, education and social

services and religious buildings)SP17 – Birmingham Core Strategy 2026

• Over 48% are within local centres

• Under 22% are not in local centres or within 400m of a school

www.bhwp.nhs.uk

• Map produced that allows different factors to be selected or deselected to overlay on each other

• Shows 400m perimeter around different key facilities

– To open map, click on icon on right

Printed maps are available on tables

Mapping the Obesogenic Environment

Obesogenic Environment