Challenge
Obesity is a huge problem in Birmingham, costing the city’s NHS £330 million a year. Almost a quarter of Year Six children are officially obese, with statistics directly linking takeaways close to schools to high levels of obesity.
In addressing this, the local Public Health team faced the following challenges:
- Plotting local schools, youth facilities and leisure centres on an interactive, digital map.
- Identifying fish and chip shops, pizza, kebab or Chinese takeaways within a 400m perimeter of 71% of primary and secondary schools.
- Sharing geographic data to encourage collaborative working towards better health.
- Making it easier to target fast food bosses with opportunities to improve their menus.
Obesity is a huge problem in Birmingham, costing the city’s NHS £330 million a year. Almost a quarter of Year Six children are officially obese, with statistics directly linking takeaways close to schools to high levels of obesity.
In addressing this, the local Public Health team faced the following challenges:
- Plotting local schools, youth facilities and leisure centres on an interactive, digital map.
- Identifying fish and chip shops, pizza, kebab or Chinese takeaways within a 400m perimeter of 71% of primary and secondary schools.
- Sharing geographic data to encourage collaborative working towards better health.
- Making it easier to target fast food bosses with opportunities to improve their menus.
Solution
By using Ordnance Survey’s OS Street View, Birmingham’s Public Health team could produce a map showing the high number of takeaways near schools across the city.
As well as providing valuable information, the map is easy to share and has given headteachers and planning departments the data to support opposition to applications for new fast food outlets near schools.
Result
Following the development of this easy to use map:
- The spread of unhealthy fast food outlets around schools has significantly slowed.
- The local planning department has adopted a policy to limit the number of new fast food outlets.
- Since the policy, almost half of applications for new takeaways have been denied. No more than 10 percent of units in any shopping area can now be takeaways.
"While the determinants of obesity are complex and interrelated, social and environmental factors clearly have an influence. The city has a large number of hot-food takeaways close to schools and local centres. The use of maps helps us to accurately describe where they are located and to tackle their spread."