Luton Council has become the latest local authority to restrict the advertising of sugary and fatty foods.
Luton is the eighth council to bring in a Healthier Food Advertising Policy (HFAP), after the Mayor of London first introduced the policy across the Transport for London network in 2019.
The other local authorities that have introduced an HFAP are Haringey, Southwark, Merton, Greenwich, Bristol, Barnsley and Tower Hamlets.
The new advertising restrictions, which were developed in collaboration with the healthy eating campaign group Sustain, have been brought in to help tackle childhood obesity. According to Sustain, only 54.2% of Year 6 pupils in the Luton area are a healthy weight.
Research from the University of Sheffield has estimated that across London the restriction will lead to 95,000 fewer cases of obesity, 3,000 fewer cases of diabetes and 2,000 fewer cases of heart disease and save the NHS £218m over the lifetime of the current population.
Sally Cartwright, Luton Council director of Public Health said: ‘We want everyone in Luton to have the best possible chance of living a healthy life. This new policy is just one example of what we’re doing to make it easier to be healthy. We’ll be working collaboratively with businesses to make sure that they can advertise healthy food and drink on council-owned advertising.’
