Last updated: 1/10/2024
Reduce number of takeaways in proximity to schools
Restrict the number of new fast food restaurants opening within 400 metres of schools
- Very low impact on obesity
A percentage estimate of how much the policy would reduce national obesity rates
- Relative reduction in obesity prevalence: 0%
- Moderate evidence quality
A rating of the strength of evidence, accounting for both reliability and validity of the evidence
- Reliability and validity rating: 3/5
- Very low cost to governments
Cost to UK and devolved governments over 5 years
- Costs to governments over 5 years: £0.5m
- Benefit to governments per year: £0
What is the policy?
This policy would give local governments the authority to restrict the opening of new restaurants providing quick-serve food and drinks within 400 metres of schools. It is sometimes referred to as the implementation of takeaway management zones or ‘exclusion’ zones. This policy is implemented at a local government level.
Recent context
The most common type of health-focused planning regulation implemented by local authorities (LAs) is takeaway management zones. In 2017, 35 out of 325 LAs in England had introduced takeaway management zones encircling schools. While the takeaway management zones influence the planning approval for new takeaways, it does not impact businesses already in operation.
In Wales, some LAs already utilise existing planning powers and have processes in place to restrict the location or number of takeaway outlets. To support the planning system, in 2021 Public Health Wales published guidance for planners to equip them to make conscious decisions regarding the health impacts of policies. However, the Welsh Government recognised in their Healthy Food Environment consultation that there are limits to what can be achieved through the planning system. They are therefore currently exploring other supportive measures such as reviewing licensing and regulation of street trading policies for businesses near secondary schools.
In Scotland, the national Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan detailed support for restricting take-aways near schools and committed to exploring this in the future iteration of Scottish Planning Policy (the now published National Planning Framework 4). This support has not yet translated into action. Research was also carried out by the Scottish Government on the relationship between the food environment and the Scottish planning system which indicated that there was at the time no interaction between planning policy and the food environment in so far as seeking to address obesity is concerned.
Case studies
Leeds City Council’s takeaway planning restrictions
In 2019, Leeds introduced a Hot Food Takeaway Supplementary Planning Document, a policy which aims to restrict the opening of new hot food takeaways within 400 metres of secondary schools.
Manchester City Council’s planning restrictions
Manchester has implemented similar restrictions on hot food takeaways near schools. Planning policies aim to limit the proliferation of fast food outlets in areas to no more than 10% of all non-residential ground floor frontages in district and local centres.
Bristol City Council bans takeaways near schools
In Bristol, a policy will stop new takeaways from opening within 400 metres of schools or youth clubs. The policy will also stop three or more takeaways from opening next door to each other.
There are a number of other case studies which illustrate a range of approaches across England in Sustain’s Hot Food Takeaways Toolkit.
Considerations for implementation
A team of researchers, in partnership with local authority staff, have developed a toolkit providing practical steps to support local authorities implement takeaway management zones. Their implementation toolkit is accessible here (and associated publications are here).
Additional implementation considerations: Local plans are informed by the statutory National Planning Guidelines which underpin the National Planning Framework in each nation. It is clearly stated in the frameworks the relation of planning to health and wellbeing and the role it can play in creating healthier communities. Local policies have to align with the relevant National Planning Framework.
Other considerations also include the fact that this policy does not take into account the whole journey and therefore students’ overall exposure to takeaways. Many school children have access to free public transport so can reach fast food outlets outside the exclusion zone and the 400-metre exclusion zone is effectively only relevant to lunchtimes and the time immediately before and after the school day.
Estimating the population impact
We estimated that this policy would reduce the prevalence of UK obesity rates by approximately 0%
Estimating the per-person impact
We estimated that this policy would reduce average daily calorie intake by approximately 0 kcal per person
- There is evidence that the enforcement of exclusion/management zones results in a decrease in the opening of new takeaways within those zones Rahilly et al. (2024).
- We could not identify high-quality data that estimated the effect of this policy on obesity-related outcomes (eg, BMI, calorie intake).
We therefore assumed that calorie intake for the exposed population would remain constant throughout the intervention period. This is because the policy would result in no additional outlets opening, rather than reducing the existing availability of outlets.
Estimating the population reach
In our analytical model, we applied the effect sizes to people living with overweight or obesity. For adults, that is people aged 18 or above with a BMI of 25+. For children, that is children aged 5–17 with a BMI percentile ≥ 85.
The modelling assumes this policy affects: children aged 5–17 years (inclusive) living with excess weight (≥ 85th percentile).
Changes in the prevalence of people living with obesity
Analytical modelling found that this policy would have no effect for children over a five-year period.
It is worth noting however, that this policy was likely to lead to a decrease in the number of new fast food outlets being opened in local authorities compared to if the policy was not implemented; it just did not affect existing outlets.
Table 1 shows the percentage reduction of children moving from BMI percentile ≥ 85 into a healthier BMI category following introduction of exclusion zones for fast food outlets (five-year follow up).
| Adults (England and Wales) | Children (England and Wales) | Adults (Scotland) | Children (Scotland) |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Cost and benefits
Cost over 5 years
We estimated that this policy would cost the governments approximately £0.5 millions over five years
We commissioned HealthLumen to estimate the cost of the policy to both industry and governments over a five-year period. View the full report.
Table 2 below shows a breakdown of costs. The direct costs to the governments are estimated at approximately £470,000.
| Group affected | Cost | Horizon | Detail |
| Costs | |||
| Government | £0.1m | One-off | Mandating and implementation costs |
| Government | £0.4m | Annual (5 years) | Ongoing enforcement costs |
Total annual benefit
We estimated that this policy would have an annual benefit of approximately £0
Based on our analysis, and using analysis conducted by the Tony Blair Institute and Frontier Economics we estimate this policy would not lead to monetary benefit for the government.
Impact on disease incidence
Based on our analysis and analysis conducted by HealthLumen, there is no evidence that this policy would impact disease incidence avoided after five years.
Behind the averages: impact on inequalities
Evidence shows that a greater number of fast food outlets are more likely to be clustered within more deprived areas, and it is well documented that there is a higher prevalence of childhood obesity in areas of deprivation. Therefore any measures to reduce the opening of new fast food outlets within 400 metres of school in these areas may have a positive impact on inequalities.
One unintended consequence of the introduction of management zones could be the displacement of takeaways to other areas, such as the periphery of management zones.
There is no evidence this policy would increase weight stigma.
Rating the strength of evidence
We asked experts working in the fields of obesity, food, and health research to rate the strength of the evidence base for each policy, taking into account both reliability (size and consistency) and validity (quality and content) of the evidence. Policies were rated on a Likert scale of 1–5 (none, limited, medium, strong, and very strong evidence base). The Blueprint Expert Advisory Group rated this policy as having Medium evidence base.
Fund citizen incentives to improve healthier behaviours
Allocate £500 million over five years to fund a programme of financial incentives to improve health behaviours in local authorities (LAs) with the highest obesity rates