A new scheme to fight childhood obesity is being looked at in Denbighshire.

The county, which has one of the worst levels of overweight children in the country, will see children being given cookery lessons so they can make healthier choices when it comes to the food they eat.

The project is still in the early stages of development but it will be rolled out to both primary and secondary age school children.

Nearly 30% of children in Denbighshire have an unhealthy weight or are obese, behind the national average of 27%.

Data released in April from the Child Measurement Programme for Wales revealed a continuing decline in the healthy weight of Denbighshire’s four to five-year-olds, making the county the eight worst in Wales.

290 children were measured as overweight or obese in 2016-17.

The move has been welcomed by people working to see Britons embrace a healthier diet.

Jo Ralling of The Food Foundation, an independent think tank that tackles the growing challenges facing the food system in the interests of the UK public.

She said: “It is vitally important that our children learn where food comes from, how to cook it and the effect it can have on their bodies.

“These are life skills that are vital if they are to grow up to have healthy and happy lives and reverse the current crisis we are witnessing in diet related disease and childhood obesity.

“It is great to see that Denbighshire council are making this a priority and supporting children to learn about food.”

Cllr Huw Hilditch-Roberts, the cabinet members for education, also welcomed the plans.

He said: “This is still something that is in the very early stages of development but I think it has the potential to be an exciting and innovative initiative to tackle this problem.

“This is an example of a problem being recognised and important action being taken to deal with it.

“Parents across our county, Wales and the UK will know the challenges they face in trying to get the children to have as healthy a diet as possible. So I hope that this way fo doing things can help families lead healthier lives.”