PEOPLE on benefits in Worcestershire could get taxpayer-funded free gym memberships on a 'use it or lose it' basis in a controversial move to tackle the obesity crisis.

Worcestershire County Council is being asked to consider the idea amid growing concern too many residents are struggling to fight the bulge.

But the suggestion has come under fire from the Taxpayers' Alliance, which says it would result in cash "squandered".

It comes less than a month after Worcestershire was named and shamed as one of England's 'fattest areas' for obesity-related hospital admissions.

A group of councillors have spent 10 months investigating Worcestershire's obesity problems and produced a 15-point list of recommendations.

The most radical idea of all is to hand overweight people on benefits free or discounted gym passes - a project already well-established in Camden.

Camden Council runs a scheme with the NHS and three leisure trusts offering "up to four months gym membership" to those signing on.

A staggering 725 people were registered for their latest launch, which ended in April with just 160 of them still active.

A new County Hall report on it calls the Camden policy "an ambitious project", saying: "Throughout the country there are countless initiatives councils are running in order to improve their residents' health.

"And it's clear that Worcestershire would benefit from investigating what other councils do and look to learn from their experiences."

A recommendation is now being sent to the Conservative leadership to "fully investigate" the work done by other local authorities, "particularly Camden Council", to see if it can be transferred to Worcestershire.

Produced for the attention of the overview and scrutiny performance board (OSPB), the report says there is growing concern too many people "have become increasingly sedentary", piling on pressure to the public purse.

The council has a statutory responsibility over public health and is expecting to spend more than £132 million on it during 2016/17, around 40 per cent of its entire net budget.

Across Worcestershire 3,765 people claim unemployment benefits but one-in-four have been signing on for more than 12 months.

If just one-in-four of those unemployed in Worcestershire were signed onto such a scheme, it would lumber taxpayers with a £112,000 bill based on a typical monthly gym fee of £30.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Local residents will be asking if this can possibly be good use of their hard-earned cash, particularly as similar schemes seem to have achieved very little.

"Personal responsibility is key to losing weight and authorities mustn't lose sight of that.

"Squandering taxpayers' money on schemes which don't deliver results means less is available for essential services like adult social care."

The Tory cabinet says it will respond to the OSPB recommendations in June.

Councillor John Smith, the cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: "I've seen the report and I'm in the process of drafting up a response to the recommendations."

A third of county children leave primary school overweight and around 23 per cent of Worcestershire adults, some 115,000 people, are classed as obese according to Public Health England.

Dr Carl Ellson, chief clinical officer at the NHS South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "It’s important we all do everything we can to help people maintain a healthy weight and reduce obesity levels."

HERE'S SOME OTHER IDEAS TO TACKLE THE FLAB

A HOST of other ideas have been put to the council - including asking GPs to "prescribe" fitness classes to the obese.

The recommendations include urging GPs to send overweight people directly to sports clubs, leisure classes and fitness groups.

The move is known as 'social prescribing' but there is anecdotal evidence very few doctors actually do it.

Other ideas include new cycle lanes across Worcestershire, all 57 councillors at County Hall spending at least £1,000 a year of their own 'divisional fund' cash on sporting initiatives, and fresh training for health workers to promote fitness to people.

Another recommendation includes talks with the Worcestershire Association of Secondary Headteachers to encourage more sport, and asking County Hall chief executive Clare Marchant to promote fitness among the workforce.

Councillor Alan Amos, speaking during a meeting of the overview and scrutiny performance board, said: "I think we need to accept parents are the prize people responsible for their children's health - they can do what we can't do.

"We can cajole them, try and help them, but it's up to them to help children at the earliest possible age."

Councillor Kit Taylor added: "We have some of the most beautiful countryside in the country, we have fields, canals, forests.

"You don't need to spend money, why doesn't this document say 'get off your bottom and walk?'"

Councillor Richard Udall, who chaired the work, said "if nothing else changed" he'd want to see the GPs' 'social prescribing' picked up.