Controversy as 40ft Burger Boy faces barbecue

NHS and council workers in the town said the 40ft work has been commissioned as part of a campaign to raise awareness of healthy eating and the dangers of heart disease.

It will be burned at an event called Bye Bye Burger Boy to end the town's summer carnival in a finale described as an evening of "fire, performance and stunning pyrotechnics".

Earlier in the day, the sculpture will be paraded through the streets as part of the Heart of Barnsley campaign, started in response to rocketing heart disease death rates.

But people who run slimming classes in the town said the "effigy" was a mistake and claimed it could lead to humiliation and bullying of children and adults struggling with their weight.

The controversial work will show a child sitting on a seat in an ashtray overflowing with cigarette ends and eating from a table laden with burgers, pizzas, cakes and doughnuts

Barnsley and its surrounding villages have one of the highest mortality rates from heart disease in the country according to the latest Department of Health statistics.

The Burger Boy row broke out as new figures revealed the Government's five-a-day campaign had failed to increase the amount of fruit and veg being eaten across Britain.

Statistics from the fresh produce organisation Freshfel Europe reveal British consumers ate one per cent more fruit in 2008 compared with the previous five-year average but vegetable consumption plummeted by 11 per cent.

Local Slimming World co-ordinator Christine Melluish who runs weight loss groups for teenagers said the burger boy sculpture was "humiliating" for fat people.

"If they're going to burn something why can't they just burn the burgers? They haven't considered it could have people picking on overweight kids."

Andrea O'Connell who runs a farm shop at Wortley, between Barnsley and Sheffield which specialises in homemade burgers, said it was irresponsible to label them a health risk.

She said: "What will be next? Bye Bye Cake Boy? Bye Bye Crisp Boy? They all have more fat in them than a burger. It is sending out completely the wrong message."

The sculpture, which will be burned on July 10, was designed by Newcastle-based theatre company Dodgy Clutch to symbolise "shedding of unhealthy elements of our lifestyles".

Neither the council or NHS Barnsley was able to say how much the creation had cost, but Elaine Ogden, NHS Barnsley's Fit for the Future Co-ordinator, said: "One of the biggest health issues we face in Barnsley is cardiovascular disease.

"The Heart of Barnsley festival is one way in which NHS Barnsley will engage with local people to raise awareness of the risk factors associated with heart disease. Bye Bye Burger Boy is just one element of this event."

Jamie oliver has pop at binge drinkers

Jamie Oliver has blasted "idiot" binge drinkers – and called for them to be fined for their cost to the National Health Service.

The 34-year-old, right, vented his anger on the Twitter website and said taxpayers' cash should be spent on people who really need help.

Oliver, who is expecting his fourth child with wife Jools, was moved to write on the web due to the BBC2 documentary Great Ormond Street, which

follows consultants and surgeons as they make critical decisions on children's treatment.

He wrote: "Amazing documentary on BBC2 about Great Ormond St children's hospital these doctors R Amazing! & the strength of the parents is simply inspiring."

He later blasted: "We must start fining these idiot weekend yobbo binge drinkers 4 their cost 2 the UK NHS then spend the money on people that REALLY need help."

A spokesman for Oliver said: "Jamie isn't against people drinking

alcohol sensibly but he's angered by the increase in binge-drinking and its cost to the taxpayer."