Wirral Council has unanimously won the ‘Trading Standards and Environmental Health’ award at the Municipal Journal Awards for their pioneering efforts to help promote healthy eating among families in some of Wirral’s most disadvantaged areas.
The honour is in reward for the Takeaway For A Change and Eat Well Wirral campaigns which address the health inequalities between the most deprived and most affluent areas of the borough.
Officers, supported by nutritionists and health care professionals, provided educational and support sessions for families and children; advising, supporting and guiding them to make healthy meal choices and opt for healthier options when in the supermarket or eating fast food.
Local takeaway owners were also given grants and supported to change cooking practices and ingredients to make their products healthier. The new meals were then tried and enjoyed by the local community thanks to vouchers offering them ‘free healthier meals’.
Due to the success of the campaigns, Wirral Council was invited to share their work at the Annual Public Health Conference in 2014. An application for further grant funding has also been approved, which will enable the projects to expand to more schools across the borough over the next two years.
Councillor Bernie Mooney, Cabinet member for Environment and Sustainability, said “This award is a fantastic achievement and well deserved in recognition of their hard work.”
“As a Council, we know we must invest in long term projects like this to deliver sustainable long term health benefits for our most deprived communities.”
For more information, please visit the Council website.
