Get Cheshire Eating Well Strategy 2026-2031

This strategy has been informed by two Joint Strategic 0-19 Needs Assessments (JSNA) (Eating Well and Healthy Weight) published in 2024, and an Adult Nutrition and Health Needs Assessment published in 2026.

Starting Well: Healthy Weight and Eating Well (2024) JSNAs

The 0-19 JSNA Chapters assessed healthy weight (PDF, 803KB) and eating well (PDF, 687KB) and present a comprehensive overview of healthy weight and nutritional behaviours among children and young people (0–19 years, up to 25 with SEND) in Cheshire West and Chester. The two chapters bring together evidence on diet, physical health, and wider determinants and were produced to inform strategic planning, commissioning, and service delivery, with a core aim of improving outcomes and reducing inequalities.

Maintaining a healthy weight and a balanced diet remains a significant and complex public health challenge locally. Many children and young people do not meet recommended dietary guidelines, including low consumption of fruit and vegetables and high intake of sugars, which contribute to excess weight, poor oral health, and increased risk of long‑term conditions.

Excess weight in childhood is associated with poorer physical and mental health outcomes and is strongly linked to deprivation. Both reports highlight clear inequalities, with children from more disadvantaged backgrounds and vulnerable groups experiencing poorer diet quality and higher levels of excess weight and obesity.

Healthy weight and eating behaviours are shaped by a complex interaction of factors. These include:

• Family environment, knowledge, and behaviours
• Food affordability and the cost‑of‑living crisis
• Availability and accessibility of healthy food
• Cultural and religious norms
• Physical activity opportunities and local environment
• Wider societal influences, including stigma and cultural norms

The impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic and ongoing financial pressures has exacerbated these challenges, particularly for families already facing disadvantage.

A key finding across both JSNA chapters is the importance of early years and a life‑course (“Think Family”) approach. Nutrition and feeding practices from infancy (including breastfeeding and introduction to solid food) strongly influence long‑term dietary habits and weight trajectories. Early intervention, prevention, and consistent messaging are therefore critical to establishing healthy behaviours.

The JSNA chapters found that the borough benefits from a range of universal and targeted services, including the 0–19 (25 with SEND) Healthy Child Programme services, school‑based programmes, and community initiatives supporting nutrition, physical activity, and behaviour change.

However, the chapters identify opportunities to:

• Improve coordination and integration across services
• Strengthen data sharing and outcome monitoring
• Increase accessibility and reach, particularly for high‑risk groups
• Enhance co‑production with children, young people, and families
• Ensure consistent, inclusive and non‑stigmatising communication

Both reports emphasise the need for a whole‑system, multi‑agency approach. This includes aligning work across health, education, local authority, community and voluntary sectors to address both behaviours and the wider determinants of health. Prevention and early intervention should be embedded across services, with a strong focus on reducing inequalities and supporting families in a holistic way.

Improving healthy weight and dietary outcomes requires sustained, coordinated action across the system. Priorities include strengthening early help, supporting families to access affordable healthy food, promoting consistent health messages, and addressing the broader social and environmental factors that influence behaviour. Together, these actions will help to create healthier environments and improve long‑term health outcomes for children and young people in Cheshire West and Chester.

Adult Nutrition and Health Needs Assessment (2026)

The Adult Nutrition and Health Needs Assessment (2026) shows that many adults in Cheshire West and Chester want to eat well and support their health, but their ability to do so is shaped far more by social, environmental and commercial determinants than by knowledge or motivation alone.

The majority of residents do not meet national dietary guidance, with low intakes of fruit and vegetables, and high intakes of highly processed foods, sugar, salt and saturated fat. These patterns are worse among communities living in more deprived areas where there are also higher levels of obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cancer and dementia.

Food insecurity remains a significant issue for many residents of Cheshire West and Chester. A sixth (16.7%) of residents live in areas at highest risk, and foodbanks as well as affordable food projects continue to play an important role. Survey and focus‑group feedback shows that cost, time pressures, limited cooking facilities, lack of transport and poor mental health are often barriers for people eating well.

Access to affordable, healthy food is inequitable largely due to the rurality of the borough. While many residents live close to supermarkets, others particularly those in rural areas or without their own transport face significant challenges. Data from the Food Equalities Tool shows wide variation across neighbourhoods in how easy it is to access affordable food and how much of household income is spent on food shopping.

Confidence and skills in cooking healthy meals vary across different groups. The survey found that people living in more deprived areas, men, and those unable to work were more likely to report lower confidence in cooking healthy meals and greater reliance on convenience food. Exposure to advertising for less healthy food is common, particularly in more deprived areas where people are more likely to see these promotions.

At the same time, Cheshire West and Chester has strong foundations to build on. There is a well‑established whole‑system approach through Eat Well Be Active, the Food for All Plan and the West Cheshire Food Partnership. The borough has taken meaningful action on healthier advertising, planning and food environments, and offers a tiered weight‑management pathway aligned with national guidance. There is a clear commitment to dignity‑based, compassionate support rather than blame or stigma.

The main gaps identified are not a lack of activity, but uneven access, affordability and local data. More needs to be done to make healthy food easier to choose, buy, and prepare especially for people experiencing poverty, disability, neurodivergence, mental ill health or unstable housing and to improve insight into the experiences of underserved groups.

Overall, this needs assessment has identified the need to continue shifting from individual behaviour change alone to practical, system‑wide action. Making healthy food affordable, accessible and realistic in everyday life, while maintaining compassionate, joined‑up support, offers the greatest opportunity to improve nutrition, reduce inequalities and support better health across the borough.