Blackpool Council Annual Health Report 2019 Blackpool Council Annual Health Report PAGES | Page 28

In January 2016, Blackpool Council became the first local authority in the country to sign
a Local Authority Declaration on Healthy Weight and made a commitment to support
employees and residents of Blackpool to tackle the issue of obesity.  Work to achieve
these commitments has been on going and during 2018, the Public Health team has been
working with a range of partners to develop a variety of interventions and actions to
achieve them. 
The children and families weight management programme, which is operated by Blackpool
Council leisure services, continues to provide a programme which support families
improve their knowledge and skills around healthy eating and physical activity, to enable
them to use these skills to make and sustain healthy lifestyle choices. 
The Council has made good progress during 2018 on tackling obesity in the town, but
there is still more work to be done. As we look forward to 2019, the Public Health
team will be undertaking a review of the healthy weight work and delivering a series of
workshops on a whole systems approach to obesity to engage other council departments
and work with key stakeholders across Blackpool.  This work will help shape the future
direction of the Healthy Weight strategy which will have a focus on our Early Years. 
The Give Up loving Pop (GULP) campaign continues to grow from strength to
strength within the Primary Schools, with the campaign being run for both
Year 4 and 5 pupils encouraging children to choose sugar-free alternatives to
fizzy drinks.
To build on this in November 2018 with the support of Better Start we
launched an Early Years Gulp campaign ‘Be Kind to Teeth’.
In addition to the work taking place specifically targeting obesity, there is
complementary activity taking place to encourage children to become more physically
active. Emerging evidence suggests an association between being physically active
and academic attainment and attention. Being physically active also helps to promote
physical and emotional health and wellbeing and children and young people who are
physically active are more likely to continue the habit into adult life 18 .
There are a number of Fit2Go programmes in the town including Family
Fit2Go and Better Start Fit2Go.  All these are about supporting children and
families make healthier choices and live a healthier lifestyle.  The Public Health
nutritionist has been working with our primary schools to develop healthy
packed lunch guidance to support parents with making healthy packed lunches
and Blackpool Football Community Trust are promoting these resources as
part of the Fit2Go programme in the primary schools.
28
18. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/469703/What_works_in_schools_and_colleges_to_increas_
physical_activity.pdf