^t>hs Sara Gaines Society Guardian, Tuesday October 21 2008 *4 A council plans to ban new takeaways opening within 400 mètres of schools, youth centres and parles to help combat child obesity and promote healthy eating. Waltham Forest council, east London, also wants to bring in new planning rules to limit thé number of fast food outlets in shopping parades and restrict their opening hours. ST~ The council is one of thé first local authorities in Britain to propose such restrictions, which were suggested in thé government's obesity strategy, Knowsley council, Liverpool, bas also asked planning officers to consider restricting fast food outlets. Waltham Forest said child obesity is higher there than thé national average - with 17.2% of children obèse, compared with 15% across England. Another 11.5% of children in thé borough are io overweight. "We don't want to tell people how to live their lives - but at thé moment résidents simply don't hâve enough choice because of thé amount of fast food takeaways," said Clyde Loakes, thé council leader. "We hâve too many fast food outlets in this borough and we've had enough. /Ç" "We're sure our résidents will agrée with what we are trying to do. This is thé first step in ensuring our town centres more attractive places to visit by making them cleaner, safer and providing a better mix of shops, cafés and restaurants." Fried chicken outlets, burger bars and kebab shops are ail included in thé proposais, which hâve been put out to public consultation. Waltham Forest chose to act after résidents questioned its sustainable community strategy and saiJ-th-RV-disliked .iitiaui^Jàiler-aiid aniàsûcLaUaekayioui: assûeiated-with thé .