Government plans encourage involvement in sport and physical activity through planning and transport policies

A new £372 million cross-government strategy to help everyone lead healthier lives has been published by the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson and the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls. The strategy, Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross Government Strategy for England can be found online.

The Government’s strategy supports the creation of a healthy society; encouraging invlovement in sport and physical activity through planning and transport policy, supported by early years strategies relating to schools, food and the health service.

It will bring together employers, individuals and communities to build physical activity into our lives. Having been at least 30 years in the making, the obesity trend will not be halted overnight. This strategy is a first step and will be followed by an annual report that assesses progress, looks at the latest evidence and trends and make recommendations for further action. A panel of experts will assist the Government, with input from a new public health obesity observatory that will develop our understanding of what changes behaviour.

Alan Johnson said: 'Tackling obesity is the most significant public and personal health challenge facing our society. The core of the problem is simple – we eat too much and we do too little exercise. The solution is more complex. From the nature of the food that we eat, to the built environment, through to the way our children lead their lives - it is harder to avoid obesity in the modern environment.'

The key elements of the strategy relating to urban designers involve building physical activity into our lives. Investment of £30 million in Healthy Towns – working with selected towns and cities to bring together the successful EPODE (Ensemble Prevenons Lobesite Des Enfants) model used in Europe, using infrastructure and whole town approaches to promoting physical activity.

Set up a working group with the entertainment technology industry to ensure that they continue to develop tools to allow parents to manage the time that their children spend watching TV or playing sedentary games, online and much more widely.

Review our overall approach to physical activity, including the role of Sport England, with the aim of producing a fresh set of programmes to ensure that there is a clear legacy of increased physical activity before and after the 2012 Games.

In England alone, nearly a quarter of men and women are now obese. The trends for children are even more cause for concern, with 18 per cent of 2 to 15 year olds currently obese and a further 14 per cent overweight.

The Foresight report on obesity, published last year, indicated that on current trends nearly 60 per cent of the UK population will be obese by 2050 - that is almost two out of three in the population defined as severely overweight. If this trend continues, millions of adults and children will inevitably face deteriorating health and a lower quality of life and we face spiralling health and social care costs.

The Foresight report, Tackling Obesities: Future Choices, was published on 17 October 2007. It can be found online.