People in Blackburn with Darwen could see a reduction in the number of hot takeaways in the borough, as the council resign a ‘healthy weight declaration’.

The council has joined forces with local organisations to re-sign the declaration, with a promise to develop and bring in plans to promote healthy weight and improve the health and wellbeing of local people.

The re-signing took place at the indoor running track at Witton Park and featured a range of speakers talking about some of the work being done in the borough to tackle the issue of obesity and weight-related health issues.

Signing the updated commitment was the leader of the Council, Cllr Phil Riley, chief executive Denise Park, director of public health professor Abdul Razaq, Cllr Damian Talbot, executive member for public health and housing, and Claire Richardson, director of health and care integration for Blackburn with Darwen.

The declaration involves many departments across the council working alongside Public Health to deliver the plans. These include crowth, where health and wellbeing is a crucial part of the borough’s local plan, especially in looking at the number of hot takeaways in the borough and opportunities for activity and exercise for all residents.

In October, both Blackburn with Darwen Council and Lancashire County Council (LCC) have said they are introducing plans to ensure takeaways will not be allowed in wards where obesity rates are high or close to schools.

Damian said in a bid to tackle issues with obesity in the borough, planning applications for new hot food takeaways will not be allowed in wards where more than 10 per cent of Year 6 pupils are classified as obese.

There are 16 core commitments in the healthy weight declaration, including promoting active travel and more walking in the borough, food and physical activity policies and support for early years settings and working with the Food Alliance to address food poverty and food sustainability.

Professor Abdul Razaq, Director of Public Health said: “The renewal of our Healthy Weight Declaration revitalises our ambition to help people achieve a healthy life. A healthy weight is linked to achieving better health outcomes across your life course and it is important to take action across our ‘eat well move more’ strategy to support residents in promoting healthier environments and getting more active.

“We are proud to work with our partners to amplify this priority for Public Health and the Council and we are working incredibly hard to make progress on this and boost the health outcomes for our residents.”

Cllr Damian Talbot, who is also Chair of the BwD Health and Wellbeing Board which works closely with local partners to improve the health of residents, said: “The Council and our partners have a big role to play in improving the health of our residents, as this is a much wider issue than just public health and it can’t be tackled in isolation.

“Making small changes to your lifestyle can have a big effect on your health and wellbeing and we want to help create the right environment for people to make these changes, to be more active and to make healthier food choices.”