Help for Craven people battling to lose weight

And more support will be provided through a new strategy drawn-up by North Yorkshire Health and Wellbeing Board.

Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives outlines how people will be helped to eat more healthily and become active.

Its launch comes as shock figures show that over 65 per cent of adults in North Yorkshire are overweight and two in ten children aged four to five are overweight or obese.

County Councillor David Chance, executive member for stronger communities and public health, said: "Our ambition is to reduce obesity across the population of North Yorkshire by supporting people to manage their weight.

"We want to cut the number of people of all ages who are overweight by 2026.

"Our challenge is to create the environment that supports us in developing and sustaining healthy eating and physical activity habits."

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, North Yorkshire's director of public health, said the strategy would build on work that the county council was already doing to tackle the problem of obesity in young people and adults.

"We are supporting better eating in school-age children through our Healthy Choices advice and support service," he added.

"Also we have funded places at the annual MoreLife camp, which helps young people who are battling with their eating habits to achieve – and maintain – a healthy weight, by providing them with the knowledge and skills they need to make positive and realistic change to their lifestyles.

"And the county council funds free weight-management programmes in each of its seven districts to support people who want to improve their overall health and wellbeing.

"These are available to anyone aged 18 or over with a body mass index equal to or greater than 25, after referral by their GP or health and social care professional or by making a self-referral."

The strategy document can be downloaded from nypartnerships.org.uk/healthylives.