A new report, published by Public Health England (PHE), has revealed that while there are 114 fast food outlets across the borough, only a dozen of these are located in the three “regeneration” wards (Chelmsley Wood, Smith’s Wood and Kingshurst & Fordbridge).
Castle Bromwich has a higher concentration of takeaways, with nine scattered across the suburb – although this is still rather fewer than the number doing business in certain wards south of the A45.
The study would seem to suggest that the national trend of food outlets targeting more deprived areas for custom does not hold true in Solihull.
In fact, the figures show that you are far more likely to find Chinese restaurants and Indian eateries in areas such as Shirley.
Although experts may argue that the number of businesses is less important than how often locals are eating at these premises and research has consistently shown that encouraging healthy eating is a challenge in North Solihull.
In all three regeneration wards, fewer than one in five adults eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
Dr Lola Abudu, director of Health and Wellbeing at PHE West Midlands, said: “Having fish and chips or a curry is part of Britain’s culture, however over a fifth of adults and children eat takeaway meals at home more than once a week, which is contributing to the nation’s obesity epidemic.
“Some local authorities are already trying to limit new takeaways, particularly around schools and we understand a number of councils in the West Midlands region are looking to do this, in order to discourage children from swapping their healthy school dinners for fast food.”
Such an approach has been discussed by a number of Solihull councillors and last summer there was a petition raised against plans to open a new fish and chip shop in Hurst Lane.
The ultimately unsuccessful campaign was, ironically enough, spearheaded by an existing chippy which argued that a glut of similar shops opening their doors would be bad for business
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