Nine areas with high levels of obesity are to be designated "healthy towns" where the NHS and local authorities will use commercial marketing techniques to reward people who adopt healthier lifestyles, the government said yesterday.
The health secretary, Alan Johnson, allocated £30m to test ways of changing people's behaviour to avert an epidemic of obesity, which he described as England's "biggest health challenge".
He said the money would go to nine towns and cities that had come up with the most innovative ideas - Dudley, Halifax, Sheffield, Thetford, Middlesbrough, Manchester, Tewkesbury, Portsmouth and the London borough of Tower Hamlets. They will take part in a coalition called Change4Life, which is backed by the government, food retailers, charities and community groups.
In Manchester, where 22.8% of children are obese by the time they enter secondary school, people will earn rewards for taking part in regular exercise.
Anthony Lawton, the project leader, said the NHS and the city council were planning to monitor popular cycling and jogging routes. People taking part in the scheme will be invited to carry an electronic tag when they exercise, and the equipment will award points for the number of calories burned.
Similar equipment may be used to provide points for children walking to school. People taking exercise would be able to redeem points from a rewards catalogue including sports equipment and healthy days out.
Sheffield, which has the highest levels of adult obesity in England, wants local people to carry out neighbourhood audits to identify barriers to safe walking, cycling and active play. Other schemes include:
• Urban farming to promote fitness and healthy eating in Middlesbrough
• An urban garden in Tewkesbury where exercise will include rebuilding green spaces to repair flood damage
• A grow-your-own fruit and vegetables scheme for tenants in Halifax
• An award scheme for fast food outlets offering healthy alternatives in Tower Hamlets.
A government-commissioned report warned last year that, unless action were taken, nine out of 10 British adults and two-thirds of children would be overweight or obese by 2050. It said this would impose an additional £50bn burden on the NHS and the economy, lead to huge increases in conditions such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, and knock nine years off the average Briton's life expectancy.
Johnson said: "Obesity is the biggest health challenge we face. 'Healthy towns' is just the start. Our aim is to create a healthy England."
The shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: "The government needs to demonstrate how it thinks this scheme will achieve any better results or be any different from the health action zones on which Labour spent heavily in the 1990s. They achieved very little, and then disappeared without trace."
The Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Norman Lamb, said the scheme was a time-wasting gimmick. "We would give directly-elected local health boards powers to focus on priorities in their area."
