Stoke-on-Trent council is starting a ten-week text campaign to fight obesity and promote a healthier lifestyle (Picture: Metro)

If only councils would start discouraging us from all the things we know are bad – spending hard-earned money on talent show voting lines or failing to call our mothers enough.

Stoke-on-Trent council has announced it is spending £10,000 on a motivational text campaign to try and help its obese residents lose weight.

Adults who have a BMI over 25 and who sign up to the initiative will receive daily texts and a weekly questionnaire aimed at helping them exercise more often or eat healthily.

Messages will include advice such as ‘Aim to eat regular meals and keep a check on snacks and drinks’ and ‘Maybe walk to the shops or use the stairs more often’.




The ten-week scheme will help 500 of the 100,000 people in the Stoke-on-Trent region that are believed to be either overweight or obese.

The council wants people to regulate the bad foods and eat more of the lettuce (Picture: Attila Barabas/Getty)

The council hopes that it will provide early intervention against a growing epidemic that is costly and ‘personally upsetting.’

Councillor Adrian Knapper said: ‘It costs £10,000 on average to perform just one intervention operation to help people manage their weight – and the costs of obesity for the local NHS in terms of increased levels of disability, disease and early death are frightening – £50million a year.

‘Our programme means people who already want to lose weight and have signed up with us to get support will receive a cheap and effective nudge to help them keep them motivated.’

However, the idea has been branded as a ‘ridiculous waste of cash’ by Robert Oxley from the TaxPayers’ Alliance and its value-for-money questioned by Conservative councillor Abi Brown.

‘I think we could get more for £10,000. If the money went to community groups it could be used to support people losing weight but also for other projects,’ Ms Brown said.