Takeaway outlets to be banned from opening near schools

According to The Daily Mail, councils are rewriting planning rules to put a stop to takeaway restaurants opening next to schools. This news follows a legal ruling this summer which revealed that councils can now take into account the health of kids when thinking about planning applications from takeaways. This decision was made after a judge ruled that Tower Hamlets Council 'acted unlawfully' for allowing a takeaway restaurant to open within 500 yards from a school. In March last year Waltham Forest Council became the first local authority in the UK to ban fast food outlets opening within 500 metres of schools, leisure centres and parks. The ban was supported by a drive to improve the quality of school meals to ensure all pupils receive at least one healthy meal a day. And in the same period childhood obesity levels have dropped from 22.8% of year six pupils classed as obese in 2007/08 to 20.6% in 2008/09. Now over half of 50 councils are already revising their planning policies or are in the process of looking at them again. Councils taking action include Barking and Dagenham, Birmingham and Bristol.