North West organisations sign Healthy Weight Declaration

Cumbria Association of Local Councils is among a number of organisations in the North West to sign up to the Food Active Healthy Weight Declaration, committing to promote healthy weight across Cumbria.

Cumbria became the first two-tier area to introduce a joint Healthy Weight Declaration between Cumbria County Council and district level councils this time last year. Now, North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Cumbria Early Years Network and Cumbria Association of Local Councils (CALC) have all signed the declaration, committing to help tackle rising obesity levels in the North West.

The Healthy Weight Declaration is a ‘Food Active’ initiative - a set of commitments and priorities identifying some key principles to support employees and local communities to make healthier lifestyle choices and endeavour to reach and maintain a healthy weight.

Rick Petecki, chairman of Cumbria Association of Local Councils, said: “This is a great initiative to encourage and support our communities to be active and to lead healthier lives. Parish and town councils can play an important role locally by raising awareness and by helping their town or village to improve their overall health.”

Stephen Eames, chief executive of Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “What we eat and the exercise we do plays such an important role in our health and wellbeing. We know that maintaining a healthy weight is a real challenge in our communities and our health services see the impact of this every day.

“We all have a responsibility to do what we can to help people in Cumbria to maintain a healthy weight and today marks the start of our commitment to this. As part of the NHS Long Term Plan we need to focus more on helping people to stay well and by working together we can make a real difference.”