Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
Liverpool City Council has expressed strong support for the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s recent decision to enforce new advertising restrictions on unhealthy foods, sugary beverages, and vaping products across sites owned by the Combined Authority. This move represents a significant advancement in promoting public health and improving health equity throughout the city region.
The new policy, approved on Friday, January 23rd, under the guidance of Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, targets publicly owned advertising spaces, including key transport infrastructures such as bus stops and rail networks. By limiting the visibility of harmful marketing in these daily environments, the initiative aims to protect children, families, and local communities, especially those in the most disadvantaged areas. It builds upon Liverpool City Council’s own healthy advertising policy, adopted in September 2024, which restricts promotion of unhealthy food, tobacco, vaping products, gambling, and alcohol across Council-owned sites.
This regional approach extends these protective measures beyond Liverpool City Council properties, encompassing a wider range of sites across the city region, thus further decreasing exposure to damaging products and encouraging healthier lifestyle choices. The policy is grounded in findings from the “State of Health in the City: Liverpool 2040” report, which highlights growing health challenges and the necessity of urgent action to prevent worsening outcomes.
Professor Matt Ashton, Liverpool City Council’s Director of Public Health, welcomed this development, stating, “This is a significant and very welcome step for the Liverpool City Region. Public health teams across our councils have been taking action on healthier advertising for several years, recognising the clear link between deprivation, exposure to harmful marketing and avoidable ill health. By aligning regional transport and advertising assets with local authority policies, this decision strengthens our collective impact. It sends a clear message that the places people rely on every day should support healthier choices and help give every child and family a fairer chance of a healthy life.”
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram emphasized the public interest focus of the policy, saying, “Where adverts appear on publicly owned infrastructure, they should work in the public interest. In some of our communities, children are growing up surrounded by adverts for products that damage their health – we’re putting a stop to that. Too many families are living with the consequences of poor diet and ill health – and it’s no coincidence that the most impacted communities are often the poorest. I don’t think it’s right that, in places people rely on every day, like bus stops and train stations, we normalise products that we know are causing harm.”
He added, “By using the assets we control, we’re sending a clear signal about the kind of city region we want to be: one that puts people before profit, backs healthier choices and is serious about tackling the deep health inequalities that dramatically limit people’s lives. This policy reflects the strength of our partnership with the health sector and a shared commitment to tackling health inequalities head-on. This collaboration will be key to shaping our approach and, ultimately, supporting better health outcomes for our 1.6m residents.”
The new regional restrictions align with recent national measures aimed at limiting advertising of foods high in fat, salt, and sugar. Evidence consistently reveals that unhealthy food marketing is more concentrated in deprived neighborhoods, contributing to higher childhood obesity rates, diet-related illnesses, and poor oral health. Through this coordinated system-wide effort, partners across Cheshire and Merseyside are striving to foster healthier environments and emphasize long-term preventative health
Read the full article on Liverpool Express here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.