MPs urge government to ban fast food restaurant openings near schools
The report said that obesity is costing the UK £74.3b per year.
A cross-party parliamentary committee has called on the government to introduce new planning policies that would stop fast food outlets from opening near schools, as part of a sweeping set of recommendations to tackle England's obesity crisis.
The Health and Social Care Committee, publishing its report on food and weight management, said existing attempts to replicate a successful planning restriction model pioneered by Gateshead Council had repeatedly failed due to legal challenges from fast food companies.
Gateshead Council adopted planning policies in 2015 to limit new fast food outlets near schools and areas with high levels of childhood obesity. The policy led to a 4.8% cut in the number of Year Six children recorded as overweight or obese.
The committee recommended that the government's current consultation on updating the National Planning Policy Framework include tight definitions of terms such as "fast food outlet" and ensure the policy will not be left open to legal challenge or contain loopholes. It also recommended that public health officials have a mandatory role in developing local planning policies.
The recommendations come as the committee warned that obesity costs the UK £74.3b per year, including £11.4b to the NHS, according to research by Frontier Economics cited by the Department of Health and Social Care. In 2024, 30% of adults in England were living with obesity and a further 36% were overweight, according to NHS England. Some 28% of children aged 13 to 15 were overweight or obese.
Health and Social Care Committee chair Layla Moran said the government needed to be bold rather than delay food restrictions.
"Whilst 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," she said.
Beyond planning, the committee called for a ban on all outdoor advertising of high-fat, sugar and salt foods by July 2027, mandatory front-of-pack traffic light labelling by January 2028, and a mandatory healthy sales reporting system for supermarkets with targets to be set within 12 months and penalties for non-compliance overseen by the Food Standards Agency.
On advertising, the committee noted that a ban on TV and online adverts for high-fat, sugar and salt products between 5.30 AM and 9 PM came into effect in January 2026, but said the ban does not prevent brand or range advertising. The committee said brand and range advertising must be brought within the scope of the existing ban.
The committee also recommended that the government exclude food businesses deriving more than a certain proportion of sales from less healthy products from any discussions on the formation of food, diet and obesity prevention policy.
