We're a lot of fatties!

Residents of the town tend to be heavier than elsewhere across East Sussex, Bexhill and Rother Primary Care Trust board was being told yesterday.

The board is developing an action plan aimed at reducing the number of people in the district who are clinically overweight or obese.

Chief executive Rick Stern is calling for the current 16,800 health promotion budget to be maintained in the coming financial year together with 9,800 for voluntary organisations.

This will allow for the continued development of projects such as health walks, the Green Gym and the Total Lifestyle Club, while providing a small partnership project fund for implementing other targets within the action plan.

He is also recommending that funding is made available for the creation of a new public health development that will be responsible for developing, delivering and helping sustain community-based projects set out in the action plan.

He wants 12,521 made available to continue the work of the Food and Health Partnership both at a countywide food policy level and in the delivery of specific locally-based community work.

A National Audit Office report on tackling obesity sets out the scale of the problem in England.

*46% of men and 32% of women are overweight

*An additional 17% of men and 21% of women are classified as obese

*The figures have trebled in 20 years

*17% of 15 year-olds are now obese - a threefold increase between 1990 and 2000

*Overweight and obesity increase with age -28% of men and 27% of women aged 16-24 are overweight or obese but 76% of men and 68% between 55 and 64 are too heavy

The National Audit Office predicts that a quarter of all adults will be obese by 2010 if the trend to spiralling weight is not reversed.

The chief executive says: "The prevalence of obesity in Bexhill and Rother can be directly observed from the 2003 Health Counts survey.

"Respondents were asked for their height and weight and from Body Mass Index calculated from that.

"The survey identified that there are high levels of people being above their correct weight, 55% of adults overall are overweight and 16% obese with 6% of women grossly obese. South East figures are 38% of adults overweight and 19% obese.

"Residents of Bexhill tend to be heavier than elsewhere across East Sussex, Brighton and Hove with 58% of them overweight or worse."