Lincolnshire County Council launches scheme to tackle obesity issues

A councillor suggested his fellow members should lead by example and get more physical, as a new pilot scheme is launched to tackle obesity in children.

Lincolnshire County Councillor Andrew Key (Con) opened up about his own battles with weight as councillors discussed the issues with obesity in the county.

It comes as the authority launched a new Child and Family Weight Management Service (CFWM) this month.

Councillors were told that obesity is a “growing issue” in Lincolnshire, as more than two-thirds of county’s population are classed as overweight or obese according to public health data.

Councillor Key told the committee: “I’ve struggled with my weight and have done really all my adult life.

“I’ve been to slimming groups where I have been the man sitting there and I’ve lost three stone over a period again.”

However, he said: “I don’t know what’s more irritating – if you have fit and healthy people telling you what to do, or overweight people sat telling you what to do.”

“It’s all right for us to sit here and talk about it, but maybe we need to do something about it ourselves”

He suggested that a new scheme for staff could be created, adding: “If we’re going to try and influence the actions of other people, we need to be someone who is healthy, and I feel very uncomfortable trying to tell people what to do when I have the problem myself.”

A new pilot Child and Family Weight Management Service has launched this month which hopes to remove the stigma from getting children to tackle weight issues.

The project, which children can access via referral, will supplement school support from babies to 19-year-olds and will aim to take a holistic approach around wellbeing and lifestyle rather then just focusing on weight.

The service would be non-stigmatising and be attractive to parents who do not recognise their child as overweight, both of which have “traditionally been significant barriers against participation” said a report to councillors.

The service will be offered countywide, but activities will concentrate on areas with the highest levels of need.

Reports before the Lincolnshire County Council adults and community wellbeing scrutiny committee say 68 per cent of Lincolnshire’s population are overweight or obese, higher than the national average of 63 per cent.

In South Kesteven the latest figures show 69 per cent of adults are overweight or obese - up three per cent from 2015/16.

While 11.4 per cent of reception children (aged four or five) are overweight or obese - and by the last year of primary school (aged 10 and 11), 18.5 per cent of our district’s children are overweight or obese.

Andy Fox, Lincolnshire County Council’s consultant in public health said obesity was an “area of real complexity” and there was “no single easy solution” to the problem due to issues surrounding deprivation, mental health, advertising, wider environmental concerns and more.

Professor Derek Ward, director of public health, told councillors: “It’s taken 30 to 40 years to get where we are, it’s an oil tanker that’s going to take a long time to turn around.”

However, both agreed that the problem was linked to some of the main reasons for health problems in the county, including diabetes and cancer.

Obesity is expected to cost the NHS around £10bn a year nationally.

Mr Fox said the problem was only getting worse for the most deprived areas. It comes as people face rising energy, fuel and shopping prices in the cost of living crisis.

Councillors also discussed lobbying government to do more about the ease of access to, and advertising of “poor foods” and increasing opportunities for physical activity around the county.