Obesity continues to be a top priority for Southwark Council, with 56 per cent of adults and 43 per cent of children classified as obese or overweight – some of the highest rates in the country.

This comes as nationwide statistics paint a “dire picture” of childhood obesity,  with the percentage of children classified as severely obese rising to 3.3 per cent for Year 6 girls and 4.8 per cent for Year 6 boys.

Speaking to Southwark Council’s health and wellbeing board, the council’s director of health and wellbeing Kevin Fenton said the council was working hard to fight obesity.

This included training on how to give advice and interventions for all professionals who work with children so that healthy weight is “everybody’s business” and increasing support at school, according to council documents.

Southwark Council has also joined a partnership with Lambeth Council which includes local children, young people, families, Lambeth and Southwark Clinical Commissioning Groups and King’s Health Partners to improve everyday healthcare for children and young people

“The national report on obesity by Public Health England…also painted a dire picture of trends in childhood obesity with significant increases in all age groups apart from reception-age boys, so this is part of a much wider trend which is occurring and even though we are working hard in Southwark to turn the tide, we are moving upstream when it comes to wider issues with tackling obesity,” he said.

“We have a pretty robust set of actions we have agreed to, which aligns with a healthy weight in Southwark.

“There are innovative ways we are working, looking at the link between home, school and the environment that lies in between [including] high streets.”

Southwark Council statistics also show the borough had the most overweight Year 6 aged children in 2014/15, with 42.7 per cent classed as obese –  5.5 per cent higher than the London average and 9.5 per cent higher than the England average at the time.