Car-free zones around schools 'can beat obesity'

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It said parents should be banned from driving within a half-mile radius of a school to help tackle the dramatic decline in childhood activity levels.

Car-free areas should also be established next to shopping centres to prevent motorists making unnecessary short journeys, it added.

A report by the Institute for European Environmental Policy claimed increased car use is encouraging the 'twin crises' of obesity and global warming.

In 2005, the average parent notched up 82 miles a year doing the school run - up from 55 miles in 1989.

At the same time, the number of fat children doubled, with one in four aged 11 to 15 classified as obese - so overweight it threatens their health.

Walking for an extra hour a week could stave off a weight gain of two stones over ten years, the experts claimed.

This would also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 11million tons - 15.4 per cent of the current total released by passenger cars, according to the institute's report, Unfit for Purpose: How Car Use Fuels Climate Change and Obesity, added.

Co-author Carolina Valsecchis said: "Something as simple as walking short trips now made by car would make an important contribution to tackling both obesity and climate change."