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The head and governors of Brynteg Comprehensive School in Bridgend, South Wales, gave their backing to council plans for the new footpath
It's unlikely to impress Jamie Oliver. Far from discouraging pupils from a junk food diet, a council is making it even easier to indulge - by spending £100,000 on a footpath from their school gate to McDonald's.

Every lunchtime 200 pupils shun school meals to walk along the grass verge of a busy road to the burger bar.

A footpath, already being nicknamed the 'McPath', is being built to make the half-mile walk safer - and the school's head and governors are supporting it.

The decision is likely to infuriate campaigners, most notably TV chef Oliver, who have pushed for healthier school meals.

But council chiefs said they couldn't stop children eating burgers and needed to protect them along the busy A48

David Jenkins, head at Brynteg Comprehensive School in Bridgend, south Wales, said one in ten of the school's 2,000 pupils made the daily trip for a fast food lunch.

He said: 'The road, as a major route, is extremely busy and presents a significant hazard for our pupils.

'The establishment of a footpath would significantly enhance their safety.'

Yesterday, at the start of National Childhood Obesity Week, British Dietetic Association spokesman Melissa Little said the children would 'benefit far more' from staying in school to eat balanced meals.

She said: 'It's clearly not the best option for children having fast food every day. They risk obesity and heart disease, as well as feeling sluggish, not being able to focus on schoolwork and not being able to get through the day.
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Children from Brynteg Comprehensive school in Bridgend, South Wales, eating outside McDonald's. The council plans to build a £100,000 path from the school's gates to the fast food restaurant

'Schools offer healthy meals. They're there for the kids and are usually well regulated. That is going to be more beneficial.'

But council spokesman Barbara Parish said road safety was 'far more important than risking more pupils eating fast food'.

She said: 'They are taking risks walking along that road and they will carry on doing it. For me, the safety of the children is more important than the possibility that more children are going to use the route.

'We are not encouraging them to go to McDonald's, as they are going anyway. Maybe one or two more might go because of this, but the good of the majority has got to come first.'

Oliver managed to persuade the government to invest £220million in healthier school meals. But not everyone was a fan of his mission.

A backlash culminated in astonishing scenes at a school in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, where parents set up a 'meals on wheels' service delivering fish and chips, burgers and fizzy drinks to the school and passing them through the railings.

The children in Bridgend were unsurprisingly in favour of the footpath. One said: 'It's really dangerous, they should at least put some railings there. Let's face it, school dinners are rubbish.' A parent added: 'As long as they eat healthily at home it's fine.'