OBESITY, dementia and loneliness are key issues councillors hope to address as Bicester becomes a Healthy Town.

But the town council wants to make sure tackling these problems is done everywhere, not just where new developments are built.

It follows the announcement from NHS England in March that Bicester had been selected as one of 10 to trial new ways of integrating health into developments.

Town Mayor Jolanta Lis said: "The healthy town initiative is very much welcomed by councillors and I think that this will only benefit the town.

"It is predominantly because of our new towns such as the eco town which is why Bicester was chosen as the top 10 out if a long list of areas.

"Bicester is one of the fastest growing areas and the initiative hopes to address issues of creating healthy lifestyles in our town.

"What we are very concerned about in Bicester is that this initiative actually benefits the whole town and existing residents not only new parts of it."

The programme hopes to see communal health hubs, more integration with schools to educate on healthy lifestyles and also the use of technology to help with self-monitoring for health issues.

The 6,000-home eco-town being built in the town was noted by NHS England as an example of how health can be merged with developments – with every home within 400m of a bus stop and walking distance within 800m of a primary school.

So far Cherwell District Council has put forward £20,000 for feasibility studies.

Ms Lis added: "One primary area they want to address is the issue of obesity and with only 40 families living in the eco town we should address the problem across generations in Bicester first.

"It makes sense to address the issue across town first and other issues that we can look at too includes isolation among not only a lot of the elderly but also down to those young families that might experience isolation.

"That is wear the communal health hubs can help and more volunteer or community groups for people.

"This initiative for a fast growing town such a Bicester is a great way to show an example which can then be used right across the UK."

Bicester Town Council has also raised how it would like to tackle the issue of dementia among its Healthy Town programme and NHS England has suggested ideas such as dementia-friendly streets to be integrated into new development.

Local government, Oxford universities, health organisations and developers are currently working together on plans to bring in further funding for these proposals.