Ashford has one of the worst obesity rates in the county, and Shepway isn’t far behind.

Figure released to mark this week’s National Obesity Awareness Week show alarming rates for both areas.

Both are above the national average with Ashford being the fourth worst among Kent’s 13 areas and Shepway the seventh worst.

Latest figures show that the percentage of overweight and obese adults in Ashford is 67.4% and for Shepway is 66%.

A total 10 of Kent’s areas are above the national average of 63.5%.

Andrew Scott-Clark , Kent County Council’s interim director of public health, said: “It’s extremely worrying that Kent is becoming more inactive over time and the rate of exercise is declining.

“It is important to start early to tackle obesity across the whole system of services across Kent as we face a major increase in cases of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and cancer.

“By being inactive there is also an impact on arthritis and dementia, which means a huge cost to Kent’s health services.”

National Obesity Awareness week is led by the charity National Obesity Forum, whose chairman Professor David Haslam said: “Approximately one in four adults is obese. That proportion is even higher among children aged 10 to 11. This puts enormous and unsustainable pressures on public services that are already stretched to breaking point.”