Peterborough City Council will consider banning junk food ads on its property and billboards

Peterborough City Council (PCC) will consider banning junk food adverts after a petition mounted by youngsters in the city.

Councillors will discuss restricting high fat, salt and sugar advertising on council-owned land after the request from Peterborough Youth Council, made up of teenagers from local schools and colleges.

“Some of us encounter 3-4 junk food adverts in 30-minute walks to school,” the petition says.

“It makes us feel powerless that young people are constantly bombarded with junk food ads and left to deal with the consequences of obesity and poor mental health on our own.”

PCC will consider taking the youth council’s recommendation to its decision-making cabinet if this agreed by its adults and health scrutiny committee agrees to this next week.

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But, if the policy is implemented, its probable impact is unclear as it will only apply to council-owned land and advertising spaces.

A PCC report on the petition says that its public health team took samples of billboard adverts on Bridge Street in the city centre in September and October 2023 and found that 56 per cent were for high high fat, salt and sugar food or drinks in the first month and 46 per cent in the second.

None of these were as a result of council advertising, though: the report says that the council “has no history in advertising food high in fat, salt and sugar and does not intend to start doing so”.

But Peterborough's Youth MP Eva Woods, involved in the petition, says it's important to highlight this issue and translate it into policy nevertheless.

“This sticks out as a young people’s issue because the adverts are so clearly directed at us - colourful, in bus stops and near schools, with massive reference to low prices," she said. "We know that the council doesn’t have a history of using its spaces to advertise these products and that their ability to restrict third parties is limited, but we’ve been so encouraged by responses to the petition. We hope the support we’ve seen will translate into policy.”

Other local authorities have, moreover, brought in similar bans, including in Luton and Barnsley to ensure that it doesn’t happen. Transport for London (TfL) has also introduced a junk food advertising ban which is associated with a reduction in average household weekly purchases by 1001 kcal, a council, the report says.

If the ban were to be implemented in Peterborough, food and drinks companies would still be allowed to advertise, it continues, but would have to swap out unhealthier products for more healthy ones.

Peterborough Youth Council has been working on its project to restrict junk food advertising for around a year, acknowledging that obesity is a major threat to young people’s health in the area.

Research suggests that just over 40 per cent of Peterborough year 6 children (age 10-11) are overweight or obese; “significantly worse than the England average”, the report says.

The petition will initially be considered by councillors on Tuesday, 7th November.