Plans approved this week by Newcastle City Council will impose tight restrictions on where new food outlets can open.
It means takeaways will no longer be granted permission to open in wards where more than 10% of Year 6 pupils are obese, which covers every part of the city except the suburbs of Gosforth and South Jesmond.
They will also be banned from opening within 400m or a 10-minute walk of schools, parks and community centres, as well as in wards where the volume of takeaways exceeds the UK average.
The rules, set out in a new Healthier Food Environments Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), will apply to both new-build and change-of-use planning applications and be in force everywhere in Newcastle with the exception of the city centre’s retail core, which will be exempt from the rule.
According to data supplied by the City Council, two-thirds of adults in Newcastle are classed as overweight or obese, as are nearly a third (29.1%) of children.
Recent plans to open a McDonald’s near Kenton School and a Burger King on Westgate Road prompted backlashes from local communities, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
A report to the cabinet said that preventing more takeaways from opening would offer opportunities to ‘create more choice’ including options for healthier eating.
It added the while hot food takeaways ‘provide economic and employment opportunities’, they ‘encouraged’ unhealthy food choices.