Health-focused hot food takeaway planning policies in England: A review of current approaches

Hot food takeaways typically serve food that is energy dense and high in fat and sugar, leading to concerns around their contribution to population prevalence of excess weight. Local authorities have adopted a range of planning policy approaches to regulate new hot food takeaways across England. We used a systematic approach to describe health-focused hot food takeaway policies adopted by all local authorities to inform future policy development. We obtained Local Plans and other relevant planning guidance documents from local authority websites in November 2024. Documents were systematically reviewed, and health-focused hot food takeaway policies extracted for analysis of intent and mechanisms. Of 296 local authorities with planning power in England, 101 had adopted a health-focused hot food takeaway policy. Six main regulatory mechanisms were identified, with takeaway management zones (sometimes referred to as "exclusion zones") around schools and other approaches designed to prevent over-proliferation or over-concentration of takeaways adopted by around three-quarters of local authorities. Whilst six broad regulatory mechanisms were identified, there were numerous variations in policy approaches between local authorities. Furthermore, whilst some policies were clear and unambiguous, other policies lacked clarity, with potential implications for application and enforcement. With an increasing number of local planning authorities adopting hot food takeaway policies, this review provides a comprehensive overview of policy approaches successfully implemented across England that can be used to inform policy development.