Fast food plan shows lack of joined up thinking

11:04am Thursday 30th October 2008

THE Greens support the council in preventing fast food shops being near schools and parks as childhood obesity is a major challenge for Waltham Forest.

We would agree that tackling this problem requires a change to a healthier diet and more exercise for children.

Where the council fails is in joined-up thinking on this issue.

The recently opened Frederick Bremer School in Walthamstow was designed and built with no playing fields.

At a time when there is agreement that children should spend more time playing sports at school, a school that has few on-site facilities wastes at least 30 minutes of the allotted time travelling to different venues.

While this maybe an inherited problem in old schools, Frederick Bremer is a brand new purpose-built school.

The new school was built using the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), a system that is known to be inefficient, overall costing far more than public finance.

Although the council is doing the right thing restricting fast food shops, it is a shame that it put money before children’s health by building a school with no playing fields.

Steve Lambert Waltham Forest & Redbridge Green Party