Public acceptability of proposals to manage new takeaway food outlets near schools: cross-sectional analysis of the 2021 International Food Policy Study.
Cities & Health 2024 ; 8: 1094-1107.
Keeble M, Adams J, Amies-Cull B, Chang M, Cummins S, Derbyshire D, Hammond D, Hassan S, Liu B, Medina-Lara A, Mytton O, Rahilly J, Rogers N, Savory B, Smith R, Thompson C, White CM, White M, Burgoine T
DOI : 10.1080/23748834.2024.2336311
PubMed ID : 39635458
PMCID : PMC11614041
URL : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23748834.2024.2336311
Abstract
Global trends indicate that takeaway food is commonly accessible in neighbourhood food environments. Local governments in England can use spatial planning to manage the opening of new takeaway outlets in 'takeaway management zones around schools' (known sometimes as 'exclusion zones'). We analysed data from the 2021 International Food Policy Study to investigate public acceptability of takeaway management zones around schools. Among adults living in Great Britain ( = 3323), 50.8% supported, 8.9% opposed, and 37.3% were neutral about the adoption of these zones. Almost three-quarters (70.4%) believed that these zones would help young people to eat better. Among 16-17 year olds ( = 354), 33.3% agreed that young people would consume takeaway food less often if there were fewer takeaways near schools. Using adjusted logistic regression, we identified multiple correlates of public support for and perceived effectiveness of takeaway management zones. Odds of support were strongest among adults reporting that there were currently too many takeaways in their neighbourhood food environment (odds ratio: 2.32; 95% confidence intervals: 1.61, 3.35). High levels of support alongside limited opposition indicate that proposals for takeaway management zones around schools would not receive substantial public disapproval. Policy makers should not, therefore, use limited public support to rationalise policy inertia.
Lay Summary
Imagine you were asked for your opinion about proposals from your local council to adopt takeaway management zones. Would you offer your support? Do you think they would be effective in helping people to eat better? How do you think that the zones would work? We asked these types of questions during an online survey in 2021. Here’s how over 3300 adults living across England, Scotland and Wales answered:
- More than half said they would support proposals from their local council to adopt takeaway management zones around schools.
- Less than one in ten said they would be against proposals, and about a third said that they had a neutral perspective.
- Most reported that takeaway management zones around schools would be effective in helping people to eat better.
- They typically agreed that if there were fewer takeaways near schools then other types of food outlets could open, schools would find it easier to promote healthy food and young people would eat takeaway food less often.
We’re encouraged by our findings because they suggest that adults living in Great Britain already support takeaway management zones. This could be important from a political perspective because it might mean that there will be little direct opposition from members of the public if they propose to adopt a measure that can manage if, how and when takeaways are allowed to open. In turn, this might increase local council backing for such measures. Improving the diet and health of young people is one rationale for adopting takeaway management zones near schools. Because of this, we also asked 16 and 17 year olds what they thought having fewer takeaways near schools might achieve. We used information from over 350 responses to try and better understand their perspectives. Generally speaking, the young people who answered our questions believed that if there were fewer takeaways near schools then other young people would not:
- travel to takeaways further away from school to buy the food they wanted;
- have food delivered to schools or buy unhealthy food from other places;
- necessarily eat takeaway food less often.
We’re optimistic about our findings because it might be that adopting takeaway management zones around schools would not accidentally encourage young people to seek out takeaway food from places that could have only opened further away. However, our findings indicate that young people buy takeaway food outside of school times or from places that are not near their school, meaning that we need to think about other types of food and other types of shops. We also need to think about the other ways that takeaway food can be purchased like through online food delivery service platforms. The findings from our recently published research suggest that takeaway management zones near schools would be supported by adults. However, it might be that further measures that consider the other places where we purchase food are needed