A NEW junk food map shows Worcester has the third highest density of takeaways in the whole of the West Midlands - sparking concern the huge number of fast food outlets is fuelling an "obesity epidemic".

The surge of burger bars, pizzerias, kebab and chip shops means Worcester has a staggering 101 fast food outlets - second to only Sandwell and Stoke-on-Trent in the entire region.

Health bosses are concerned about the findings and insist "the fight against obesity" is being hampered.

The findings come just days after Worcester City Council planners handed KFC permission to open a new drive-through restaurant off Nunnery Way.

NHS England has produced a 'takeaway map' comparing local authority areas, which reveals how Worcestershire has 418 outlets.

Worcester leads the way with 101 while Wyre Forest has 85, Wychavon is third with 69 and Malvern is on 35.

When compared on a per-head basis Worcester's population of almost exactly 100,000 people shoots it right up the rankings, behind only the Black Country borough of Sandwell and Stoke, in Staffordshire.

Worcester outstrips areas like Birmingham, Coventry, Tamworth and even when compared to the East Midlands it beats all but four towns or cities.

Worcester's tally also significantly outstrips the average for England, leading to concern about it becoming the fast food capital of the region.

Worcestershire County Council's health, overview and scrutiny committee (HOSC) , a watchdog-style panel, says it wants to probe the reasons behind it.

Cllr Alan Amos, its chairman, said: "We do have a vibrant shopping centre, I walk through it every day and empty shops tend to get filled up pretty quickly.

"But this is something I'd want us to look at because I'd like to know why this is the case, we need to explore it.

"There is a much bigger issue here, which is people's lifestyles - everyone has to eat but they are in such a rush, they do it as quickly as possible.

"We've all heard the stories about obesity - it needs to be balanced between diet and getting more exercise."

Dr Lola Abudu, a director at Public Health England in the West Midlands, said: "Having fish and chips or a curry is part of our culture, but over a fifth of adults and children eat takeaway meals at home more than once a week which is contributing to the nation's obesity epidemic."

A spokesman for Worcester City Council said it had an existing ruling which "caps" the number of takeaways to 20 per cent of the available retail units in 'approach corridors' such as Lowesmoor and St John's.

It does not apply to the city centre, but under the newly-adopted South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) councils are told to avoid clusters of fast food takeaways from appearing too close together and cannot have them side-by-side.

Almost one in five Worcestershire children aged four or five were overweight or obese last year, with the figure rising to almost one in three 10-11 year-olds.

The county council has tackling obesity as one of its key priorities, with around one in four adults in Worcestershire classed as obese.