Planning for healthy food

Growth corridors with fewer healthier food options have become prime targets for fast food chains looking to expand in the state.   

Last year’s parliamentary inquiry into food security received a number of submissions calling for reforms to planning laws to curb the proliferation of fast food retailers on health grounds.

City of Greater Bendigo noted in its submission to the Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee that there were 3.3 takeaway/fast food outlets for every one fresh food outlet in the Bendigo region.

It suggested that the Victoria Planning Provisions be amended to allow local governments flexibility in controlling fast food outlets.

This could include ‘zoning amendments that require permits for all fast food outlets regardless of zone, consideration of current fast food outlet density in the area, proximity to schools and early years services and health indicators of the community’.

The Common Ground Project also called for health to be prioritised in land-use planning and new developments.

‘This is needed to decrease the prevalence of unhealthy food outlets built disproportionately in new housing developments where they are also close to schools and daycares.’

At a public hearing Sustain Executive Director Dr Nick Rose (pictured above) argued that the choices people make are not solely individual but are ‘shaped by the planning framework, by government policy, and by the interests of corporations – very powerful corporations’.

Dr Rose highlighted the importance of understanding, ‘the context and the environments in which individuals, particularly in low‑SES [socioeconomic status] communities, are making their choices’.

It is well documented that there are higher numbers of fast food outlets in low socio-economic areas in Australia.

‘When such outlets dominate neighbourhoods, it limits the availability of healthy food options and can make it challenging for residents to maintain a healthy diet,’ said the City of Greater Bendigo in its submission.

In the government’s recent response to the food security inquiry, it said it was reviewing the recommendation to revise planning provisions to include health and food security as an objective when local governments and other planning authorities are making planning decisions.

‘This could include consideration of changes to the planning system to improve access to providers of affordable and nutritious food and reduce the density of some large chain food premises to protect health outcomes in Victoria,’ the response said.