London, Aug 16 (IANS) Concern over child obesity in the UK has stretched to a point that parents have been warned of forced separation from extremely over-weight children on grounds of parental neglect. Such children will be put under charge of carers, local councils have said, in their latest attempt to make parents directly responsible for their children’s weight.

The fattest youngsters should be seen as examples of “parental neglect” and handed over to social workers, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).

A report by the LGA, which represents 400 authorities in England and Wales, has warned that Britain is fast becoming the “obesity capital of the world”.

David Rogers, LGA spokesman on public health, called for a national debate about the extent to which dangerous childhood obesity could be considered as a factor contributing to parental neglect.

“The nation’s expanding waistline threatens to have a devastating impact on our public services. It’s a massive issue for public health but it also risks placing unprecedented pressure on council services.”

The GLA report also warned that the obesity crisis means ambulances will have to be re-equipped with extra-wide stretchers and winches.

Buses and trams will soon accommodate fewer, larger passengers, the report said.

Listing a string of examples, the LGA said crematoria furnaces were also having to be widened at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds.