TOWN hall leaders are warning that the nation's expanding waistlines will force councils to buy larger chairs and desks in classrooms and provide wider crematorium furnaces - and will force ambulances to be equipped with extra wide stretchers and winches.

The Local Government Association, which represents more than 400 councils in England and Wales, is calling for an obesity debate and warned it is having a financial impact on public services.

It is estimated in England by 2012 one million children will be obese.

Cllr David Rogers, the association's spokesman on public health, said Britain was becoming the "obesity capital of the world" and there needed to be a debate about the extent to which it was acceptable for local authorities to deal with dangerously overweight children.

Chris Maycroft, project manager for Dorset County Council's school meals programme, said it was essential to reach children at an early age to tackle obesity and they had a number of initiatives already in place.

"These include linking with local suppliers to provide hot school meals made with locally produced organic ingredients and creating kitchen gardens to support Plant It, Grow It, Cook It programmes.

"We are also working with the Soil Association to educate children on food and its origins and explore the way food choices can impact on their health."

A South Western Ambulance Service spokesman said the organisation already has larger stretchers at strategic stations throughout the south west.

Of their 202 front-line ambulances, 45 are capable of carrying the larger stretcher.

The spokesman added: "The service is confident in its forward planning and that its provision is more than adequate for the foreseeable future."