Takeaways banned from opening near schools

Fast-food restaurants are to be banned from opening near hundreds of schools in a fresh bid to combat teenage obesity.

Planning rules are being rewritten by councils across the country to stop takeaway outlets operating next to schools and luring children away from healthier options in the canteen, according to The Daily Mail.

A poll of 50 councils found that more than half had already revised their planning policies or were in the process of looking at them again following a legal ruling this summer, which clarified that councils can take into account the health and wellbeing of schoolchildren when considering planning applications from takeaway outlets.

A judge ruled that Tower Hamlets Council in East London "acted unlawfully" when it allowed Fried & Fabulous to open just 500 yards from a secondary school. Last year Waltham Forest Council, also in East London, became the first local authority to ban fast-food outlets from opening within a 400m exclusion zone around schools, parks and leisure centres.

Standards that aim to ensure school lunches are healthy and nutritious were introduced into primary schools in September 2008 and in secondary schools 12 months later.

School Lunch Grant to continue, thanks to School Meals Matter campaign >>

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By Janie Stamford

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