At the start of 2018 Ballarat City Council received a request to build a new drive-thru fast food venue in the centre of the Homemaker Centre off Gillies Street in Wendouree. 

The application was just the latest in a string of requests to add to Ballarat’s rapidly expanding fast food options. 

Construction of a new Hungry Jacks restaurant in Sebastopol on the corner of Skipton and Rubicon streets is well underway, while another petrol station application for the Geelong Road in Mount Clear included provisions for two fast food restaurants.  

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In late 2017 another application for a $4.9 million service station development on the corner of Howitt Street and Creswick Road featured two drive-thru restaurants, adding further to the city’s fast food saturation.

Ballarat Community Health prevention and system development director Katherine Cape said “there’s research to show the number of fast food outlets in economically disadvantaged areas is nearly double that of other areas”. 

“You get that multiplication of fast food which means when people go to buy food they don’t have the option to choose fresh and healthy options,” Ms Cape said. 

It’s a growth industry matched only by the belt sizes of Ballarat residents, with data collected across 2014 and 2015 showing more than 70 per cent of Ballarat residents were overweight or obese, well above the national average. 

The issue was acknowledged as one of the Central Highlands Regional Partnership’s core goals, with the group identifying an ambitious goal to slice five per cent off the obesity rate each year across the region’s six municipalities. 

However Wilsons Fruit and Vegetables owner Trevor Wilson said the takeaway food trend was not Ballarat specific and was just part of changing culinary preferences. 

“Back years ago Ballarat was a meat and three veg town but now you've got so many other foods which people want to try,” Mr Wilson said. 

“You’ve got the fast food outlets but then you've got cafes which are booming.

“People didn't know what to do with an avocado 20 years ago.”

While Ballarat City Council will forge ahead with the delivery of its healthy eating strategy, the city’s mayor has confirmed it won’t result in a fall in the number of fast food restaurant permits. 

The Public Health and Wellbeing Action Plan which was given the green light last year set out council’s goals to increase accessibility to healthy foods across 2017 and 2018. 

Ballarat City mayor Samantha McIntosh said council had the ability to lead by example on healthy eating by ensuring spaces such as the Ballarat Aquatic Centre featured healthy options, however it did not have the power to influence the menus served by businesses. 

She said fast food restaurant applications were assessed solely on their planning merits. 

“We’re not policemen,” Cr McIntosh said.  “There’s a certain amount we can encourage and guide people but ultimately we can’t direct people on how they will deliver their business.”

The effort comes after data from 2014 and 2015 revealed western Victorian adults were the fourth most likely in the country to register as overweight or obese. 

The council strategy sets out a series of short and medium term goals to help reduce the municipality’s weight problem, including developing an award program which supports cafes and restaurants to offer healthy choices on their menus.

The plan also seeks to ensure council managed or supported events are providing healthy food and drink options. 

“From a council perspective and my own perspective we want to see a healthy community and nutritional awareness is real important, but we are also very supportive of business activity and there’s all different versions of that,” Cr McIntosh said.