Obesogenic Environment in Birmingham
Andy Baker
Public Health Information Team
Workshop
Delivering a health-promoting environment to tackle obesity in Birmingham
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
Examples include
Pizza takeaway
Kebab Shop
Fried Chicken
Fish & Chips
Chinese Takeaway
Balti / Curry Takeaway
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
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
• Over 48% are within local centres
• Under 22% are not in local centres
or within 400m of a school
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
www.bhwp.nhs.uk
Mapping the Obesogenic
Environment
• 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
www.bhwp.nhs.uk