The Waltham Forest Council have set up specific exclusion zones around schools

Sometimes the biggest ideas come from the smallest places!  Waltham Forest Council which is in East London has become the first local council to ban fast food restaurants near schools and other places where children congregate such as leisure centres and public parks. Clyde Loakes from the council said that because residents had complained about fast food restaurants being placed near to schools they were determined to take action and stop them opening. The police were present when council officials issued a closure order on a fast food takeaway restaurant called Bamboo Joint which was deemed to be too close to a school.

Just recently Ukmedix News published research which shows that students who attend schools near fast food restaurants are significantly more likely to suffer from obesity and there have been calls in America for legislation to be enacted to prevent these restaurants opening up in places where children can get easy access to them. As far as we know at Ukmedix News this is the first time that a fast food restaurant has been closed down because of issues concerning child obesity and the Waltham Forest Council should be commended for their action.

The Waltham Forest Council have set up specific exclusion zones around schools and public parks and this particular fast food restaurant fell into the zones of three of them namely Mayville Primary School, Tom Hood Secondary School and Langthorne Park.

It is sometimes impossible for schools who are trying to promote healthy eating to compete with the cheap fast food which is sold just outside the school gates. With childhood obesity becoming a chronic national problem in the United Kingdom firm and strong measures need to be taken if the problem is to be dealt with. Fast food restaurants rely on schoolchildren for lots of their business and this has to stop.