A few months back Birmingham City Council took over responsibility for public health in the city so now politicians are in charge of stop smoking campaigns and the like.
Probably the biggest health issue facing the city is the fact that
A combination of cheap high sugar, high fat, high salt foods, more sedentary lifestyles and the fear of letting kids roam the streets has combined to create a health epidemic.
READ MORE: {}
Not only do these youngsters face increased chances of diabetes, heart problems and other weight related conditions in older life, they will also be a drain on the NHS to the tune of £2.6 billion in years to come.
At the extreme end of the scale it has been reported there is a ten or 11-year-old child who has weighed in at 22 stone, and six others tipping the scales at over 17 stone. Frightening figures indeed.
So it is no exaggeration that the council’s health scrutiny committee has labelled the situation ‘a crisis’ and wants to know what can be done to reverse this trend.
It appears that there is already a pretty comprehensive strategy in place, drawn up by a group called the Health and Wellbeing Board, a combination of health service and local authority representatives.
Many will be wondering what a city council can achieve when so much of the problem is a national or cultural one.
Most Read
Among those being blamed are the food industry, the lack of public money, junk food in schools, take aways, video games and the understandable fear of letting children run free.
For once there was genuine debate and a philosophical divide on the committee.
Conservative members placed their emphasis on the individual. Coun Margaret Waddington (Cons, Sutton Trinity) wondered why so much attention was being paid to schools.
“I haven’t heard enough about parents. If a child arrives at school at the age of four obese, it’s down to the parents.
“We shouldn’t be putting this all on the schools.”
Her colleague Lynn Collin (Cons, Sutton Vesey) wanted a ‘strong message’ to parents – that this is ‘immoral’.
“We have to say to parents this is not acceptable. If we’re not going to give a very clear message we might as well pack up and go home,” she said.
Don’t miss
But Coun Bedser (Lab, Kings Norton) was not quite willing to hammer the parents. He insisted that demonising struggling families would be counter-productive.
In any case he laid the blame, above all else, at the door of the ‘global food industry’ for super sizing portions, aggressive marketing and selling high fat stuff so cheaply.
Coun Bedser wants the committee to suggest more home economics lessons in schools, perhaps including parents to give them the confidence and skills to produce a home cooked chilli con carne or bolognaise, rather than buy the high-sugar versions in a jar.
Other councillors looked at the ‘system’ and suggestions included lobbying government to ensure that academies and free schools were required to meet the healthy eating requirements applied to local authority schools. At present they can freely put a Mars Bar vending machine in.
There was some dispute on whether local planning policies can be used to limit the spread of take aways – particularly near schools. There are as many as 19 kebab, fried chicken and pizza shops a short walk from one inner city school’s gates.
Director of public health Dr Adrian Phillips is convinced that the City Council’s planning policies can be a lot harder on fast food sellers.
He also sets a lot of store by the council’s ‘20 is plenty campaign’, the dropping of speed limits on the vast majority of streets to 20mph. He suggests that children will once again kick balls in the streets, cycle and generally get out more if cars slow down.
He also wants extreme parking control zones around schools to encourage more to walk to school.
It was shaping up to be lively debate.
In the background is the fear that short term cuts to leisure centres and parks will end up adding to the problems.
There was one thing all agreed on – they would like to see a return to the fearsome dinner lady.
Coun Narinder Kooner (Lab, Handsworth Wood) remembered not being allowed to leave the school dinner table until she had eaten her beetroot. “I hate beetroot,” she explained – clearly still scarred by the experience.
Her point was that schools are piling healthy stuff onto children’s plates but no one is making sure they eat it.
The only thing all agreed on was that this is a huge problem, one of the biggest faced by the city. But there is much dispute over the solutions.
What is clear is that parents, schools, the health service and the local authority all need to play their part to reverse this damaging trend.
-------
The City Council will be rolling out the red-carpet for its new £180,000 a year chief executive Mark Rogers when he arrives in March.
A few have raised eyebrows at the appointment – not least because historically Birmingham has made a bit of a meal of these high-profile appointments.
Most famous was the transfer of Valerie Lemmie from Dayton, Ohio to the role in 2001. After being announced with great fanfare she rejected the job and the council was back to square one.
There is also a little nervousness that the leap from running Solihull Borough Council to Europe’s largest local authority is a big one.
But there are many advantages as Mr Rogers is already known to the City through close working on the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP.
He is also a leading authority on children’s services, and area where Birmingham has really struggled of late. And, during these days of austerity budgets, the City Council can also save a packet on relocation fees.