COUNCIL bosses have warned that work to reduce childhood obesity levels in York could be scaled back in a move which has been criticised by rival politicians.

In a report to be considered by City of York Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee today it is described as “very unlikely” that the local authority will be able to employ an officer dedicated to childhood obesity in the near future.

The announcement follows a decision to withdraw funding for a key post to take the lead on the issue within the council, as part of an earlier round of budget cuts.

Although obesity is considered to be “relatively low” in York, it has been described as the “single biggest issue” facing the county in the coming years by a North Yorkshire Health chief.

Fears have been raised that without the council’s Labour group putting more dedicated funding in place the problem could begin to spiral York in the coming years.

Coun Ian Gillies, leader of the Tory opposition at City of York Council, said: “Money spent now will actually go towards helping children’s health and will also prevent the need to spend even more money in the future.

“It’s a very bad decision. Just because we do not have a significant problem with it at the moment does not mean we should ignore it.”

Progress has been made in recent years to tackle the issue of childhood obesity in York, with the number of reception age children at risk of obesity going down from 8.4 per cent to 7.5 per cent in the past four years.

But for year six pupils, ages 11 to 12, there has been an increase during 2010/2011 with 14.7 per cent of children now considered at risk of obesity.

Last year, The Press reported how Coun Jim Clark, chair of scrutiny of health committee for North Yorkshire County Council, who has called childhood obesity the single biggest health concern in North Yorkshire, said an “absolute culture shift is needed” to tackle the problem.