SOUTH Cheshire environmentalists are calling on parents to leave their cars at home in a bid to make children fitter.

Friends of the Earth is concerned that children who are taken to school by car face an unhealthy future.

A report by the University of Glasgow has shown that by the age to two almost 16 per cent of youngsters studied were overweight and by the age of four this had increased to one in five.

The local FoE group is also calling for the county council to extend Safer Routes to School for all schools in south Cheshire to ensure all children have the freedom to walk and cycle in safety.

Spokesman Jeremy Herbert said: "Some parents are almost killing their kids with kindness.

"Through a bizarre double logic they fear the streets and then drive their kids to school adding to car choked streets. Children need clean air and exercise to grow up healthy and strong."

"By walking or cycling with parents and friends, travelling by bus or train, they learn to socialise and communicate with the world around them.

"Trapped in the cocoon of the parental car they are isolated. We have to learn to set our children free. Plus parents are helping create the dangerous environment they fear. In-car pollution is often higher than that on the pavement."

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