Pilot areas for anti-obesity scheme

Other areas taking part in Health Secretary Alan Johnson's "healthy towns" programme are Calderdale, Thetford, Portsmouth, Tower Hamlets, Dudley, Middlesbrough, Tewkesbury and Sheffield.

Among the schemes being trialled in the £30 million programme is a loyalty card allowing individuals to earn points by buying healthy food and taking part in exercise which can be redeemed for free sportswear or games equipment.

Other ideas include redesigning town centres to encourage walking and cycling, a grow-your-own fruit and vegetable scheme for social housing tenants, the creation of urban gardens in areas hit by last year's floods and a 'cycle-recycle' project to help people learn to ride and look after their bikes.

Parks will be made more attractive places to visit and safe "active travel corridors" will be created to link people's homes with "health hubs".

The Government-commissioned Foresight report, published last year, warned that unless action is taken, nine out of 10 British adults and two-thirds of children will be overweight or obese by the year 2050.

This would impose an additional £50 billion burden on the NHS and the economy, lead to huge increases in conditions like cancer, heart disease and diabetes and knock nine years off the average Briton's life expectancy, Mr Johnson warned.

Even now, 9,000 Britons die prematurely each year due to their weight and a third of 10- and 11-year-olds are overweight, he said.