Junk food advertising aimed at children is now restricted, with new rules banning less healthy food adverts before nine pm on television and online at all times.
The changes, introduced by the Government, are designed to reduce children’s exposure to marketing linked to high fat, salt and sugar products, and have been welcomed by Mid Dorset and North Poole MP Vikki Slade as a step forward in efforts to address childhood obesity.
She said the measures were positive but limited, arguing that children are still exposed to fast food advertising in everyday public spaces, including billboards, bus stops and shopfronts on routes commonly used to get to and from school.
Vikki Slade has been campaigning for stronger action and recently tabled an amendment that would have allowed local councils to restrict fast food advertising near schools, youth clubs and other places where children spend time, developed alongside health campaigners and industry experts.
The amendment was not accepted, which she said was a missed opportunity to give councils practical tools to respond to local concerns where advertising is clearly inappropriate.
The issue has particular relevance in Dorset, where 22.6 per cent of reception age children are overweight or obese, compared with 22.1 per cent nationally, underlining the scale of the challenge facing families and services locally.
She has now launched a local poll asking residents whether councils should be given powers to restrict fast food advertising near places used by young people.
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