On 1 April, responsibility for public health, including managing and tackling obesity, was transferred from the Department of Health to local government.

Councils have already started to reconsider their responsibilities. As local initiatives gain traction and visibility, they will reinforce the message that obesity is a multi-faceted problem affected by social, economic and environmental factors.

This broader context will be welcomed by the grocery industry, which has laboured for too long in the media and political spotlight as one of the principal causes and solutions to the UK’s obesity problem. However, in broadening the agenda at a local authority level, the food and drink industry does not escape the net. And there are signs local authorities are happier to test the waters around a more interventionist approach than national government has been to date.

Industry will welcome signs that local governments are prepared to talk tough about the need for individuals to take responsibility for their lifestyle choices. But it will be less keen on restrictions by local government that save people from themselves, for instance the 2010 legal ruling authorising local authorities to consider the health and wellbeing of children when considering planning applications. Now local authorities have an even more formal responsibility to address obesity, rejection of planning permission might become more widespread.

It’s not all about keeping the industry at bay, though. Targets and rewards for reducing obesity mean councils may look to businesses to provide cost-effective support and expertise in social marketing, campaigning and employee engagement.

With both national and local budgets under continued pressure, the tone adopted in the council chamber and at the dispatch box is firming up. If interventionist schemes at a local level are seen to deliver in the short term, then this will be an additional pressure on the centre to explore a more hands-on approach to regulation. Localism does not mean simply devolving the obesity problem from the national to the local level.

Matthew Orman is associate director of Fleishman-Hillard

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