West Midlands now second fattest area

Almost three quarters of West Midlands people are overweight or obese.

Top of the fat league comes the North East, where 68 per cent of people have a body mass index of 25 or over, closely followed by the West Midlands on 65.7 per cent.

The figures, published by NHS England, also name and shame the fattest areas by local authority – and Dudley and Wolverhampton's do not fare well.

Out of 326 local authorities in England, Dudley comes 33rd in the table with 70.2 per cent of its residents overweight or obese.

Wolverhampton is not far behind on 38th with a fat rating of 69.8 per cent.

Elsewhere in the West Midlands, Stafford scores 69.6 per cent, South Staffordshire 69.5 per cent and Walsall 68.9 per cent.

Sandwell, which was recently revealed to be the second laziest area in England behind Manchester, fares better with 66.3 per cent overweight residents.

But Cannock is on just 62.5 per cent, with Lichfield on 66.7 per cent.

The fattest area in the country is deemed to be Copeland, in Cumbria, with 75.9 per cent of its residents said to have a serious weight problem.

West Midlands health expert Dr Lola Adudu, who works with the area's Public Health England regional team, said it was vital that health bodies worked with local authorities to reduce obesity.

She added: "There is no single solution to reducing obesity.

"It is an issue that requires action at national, local, family and individual level.

"Local authorities are ideally placed to develop co-ordinated action across their departments, services and partner organisations to tackle overweight and obesity in the local population.

"Today's information will help local authorities to understand the extent of the problem in their area and support their on-going efforts to tackle overweight and obesity and improve the health of their local population."

Across the country Milton Keynes, Blackpool and County Durham were all inside the top 20 of the fat league. Joseph Clift, policy manager at the British Heart Foundation, said the figures painted a very unhealthy picture for the nation's waistline.

He said: "Put simply, too many people weigh too much. This should be a catalyst for action at a local and national level.

"Local authorities need to be designing towns and cities in ways which encourage people to be more active."

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, added: "The publication of these figures has to be welcomed because they will give local authorities a better chance of fighting obesity than did 15 years of tackling the epidemic from Westminster."