McDonald's says stores promote 'healthier lifestyles' to win council planning appeals

The institution plans to unfastened hundreds much stores successful the UK and Ireland (Image: Getty)

Fast nutrient elephantine McDonald’s has thwarted councils’ attempts to artifact caller stores by claiming they tin beforehand “healthier lifestyles”, an probe reveals.

Experts warned that councils are facing a “David and Goliath” benignant conflict against the US chain’s enlargement plans.

Using Freedom of Information requests, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) uncovered cases of the steadfast winning readying appeals successful immoderate of the astir deprived areas of England wherever a 4th of children are obese by the clip they permission school.

Tactics utilized by McDonald’s included arguing that customers tin bid crockery from its drive-through branches, that they could rhythm oregon locomotion there, and that the company’s sponsorship of section shot teams promoted wellness and wellbeing.

During appeals successful West Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, it besides presented statements from a GP and obesity adept who said that “over 100” antithetic factors lend to obesity.

Alice Wiseman, vice president of the Association of Directors of Public Health and manager of nationalist wellness for Gateshead and Newcastle, said specified appeals were “very undermining successful the relation of section authorities successful being capable to signifier a steadfast environment.

“We haven’t got the resources that the likes of McDonald’s person got to beryllium capable to get into immoderate ineligible battles with this. It’s David and Goliath.”

Last year, McDonald’s announced plans to unfastened 200 restaurants crossed the UK and Ireland implicit the adjacent 4 years.

Thomas Burgoine, main probe subordinate astatine the MRC Epidemiology Unit astatine Cambridge University, said ample multinational nutrient corporations were “more equipped than smaller businesses to object, including astatine appeal”.

He added: “They cognize the sorts of arguments that enactment and prosecute readying consultants and businesses who cognize the ins and outs of the UK readying strategy to enactment connected their behalf.

“Local authorities don’t privation to acceptable a antagonistic precedent by losing these battles astatine appeal. There’s a nervousness astir losing, not slightest due to the fact that of the wealth it tin outgo to combat these cases.”

The BMJ asked the Planning Inspectorate for details and correspondence of each appeals made by McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King successful January 2020.

It recovered determination were 14 appeals from McDonald’s, 1 from KFC and nary from Burger King.

A McDonald’s spokesperson said the institution believed successful “making it easier for customers to equilibrium health, taste, and worth and successful giving radical choice”.

“We volition ever beryllium transparent astir our ingredients and person provided nutritional accusation for implicit 30 years. 

“Today, 57% of our paper is classified arsenic non-HFSS and 90% of our nutrient and drinks paper items are nether 500 calories.”

The spokesperson added: “At McDonald’s, we are arrogant of the relation we play successful section communities and the £94.5 cardinal we person contributed to the nationalist system since opening our archetypal edifice successful the UK successful 1974.”