More than 500 year 6 children in Southampton have been measured as obese, council data shows.

The figures for 2023/24 showed that two-thirds of the 581 very overweight year 6 children were not obese when they were in year R.

Southampton City Council public health officers had been able to link data from the end of primary school to when these pupils were assessed at the start of their time at school.

Public health principle analyst Vicky Toomey presented a report on the joint strategic needs assessment annual work programme to the health and wellbeing board at a meeting on Wednesday, March 5.

“If we had only targetted those year R children who were very overweight, we would have missed out on two-thirds of the children who became overweight in year six, which helps identify more about not those targetted interventions but those population-wide,” Ms Toomey said.

She told the board that the rising rate of childhood obesity in Southampton was “one of the more standout things” that she had found from the deep dives that had been carried out so far.

A childhood obesity task and finish group has been set up to focus on the issue, while the subject was one of the main strands in the first part of the new health and wellbeing strategy.

Rob Kurn, chief executive of Southampton Voluntary Services, asked if it would be possible to explore any correlation between the increase in obesity and areas being “flooded” with places selling unhealthy food.

Ms Toomey’s report said data showed the majority of Southampton residents lived within a five to 10-minute drive or a one-kilometre walk of a fast food outlet.

Seven out of 10 schools were within 400 metres of a fast food outlet, with closer proximities in the city centre and deprived areas.

Cllr Marie Finn, cabinet member for health and adults, said other local authorities had planning restrictions in place which limited the number of takeaways allowed in certain areas.

She said this was being explored in the emerging Southampton City Vision, which will be the city council’s new local plan.

Healthwatch Southampton chair Suki Sitaram said childhood obesity could not just be down to food outlets.

She said obesity had a lifelong impact on the individual as well as health services in Southampton.

Dr Debbie Chase, the council’s director of public health, said the food environment was a “complex web”.

No one thing was going to tackle the problem, Dr Chase said, referencing the work being carried out on developing a whole system approach.