Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to give local authorities the power to (a) remove junk food advertisements from billboards outside schools and (b) place limits on the opening of fast food takeaways near schools.

Local authorities already have a range of planning powers to create healthier environments in their local area, both through their local plan and by taking individual planning decisions.

In July 2017 the Government updated the ‘Planning Practice Guidance on health and wellbeing’ to provide clearer guidance on how to use planning and the planning system to create healthier food environments, including in respect of hot food takeaways.

The National Planning Policy Framework already makes it clear that health objectives should be taken into account by local planning authorities when developing planning policy. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is currently consulting on revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework. This draft includes strengthened public health policy reflecting discussion with Public Health England.

The ‘Planning Practice Guidance on health and wellbeing’ is available at the following link:

www.gov.uk/guidance/health-and-wellbeing