Free healthy school meals will be scrapped from schools in Hull, an area that has been labelled the "fat capital" of England, it emerged today.
Hull council, controlled by the Liberal Democrats, will phase out free school meals from next year because they are "unaffordable".
Hull became the first council area in England to offer free school meals when its Labour council introduced a pilot scheme in 2004.
The increasing popularity of the scheme saw as many as 95% of children eating school meals in Hull and 24,000 pieces of fresh fruit and vegetables were served up in schools across the city every day.
In May last year, on the first anniversary of the project, teachers said they had seen an improvement in concentration among pupils since the healthy meals were introduced.
However, the council no longer believes the scheme, which costs £3.8m a year, is money well-spent.
The council leader, Carl Minns, said: "The Liberal Democrats are totally committed to healthy school meal provision. Our fervent belief in healthy nutrition for the young à la Jamie Oliver was the basis of our past proposals to increase the nutritional content and value of school meals.
"But healthy should not be confused with free and we maintain that the free school meal programme which has led to an increase of over £3m of spending on school meals is unaffordable when there are so many pressures on the council's budget."
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) said it was "shameful" that the city's new leadership had decided to reintroduce charges for school meals before the three-year pilot had been evaluated.
The CPAG's chief executive, Kate Green, said: "This is a huge blow for thousands of children in Hull who have benefited from this pioneering free school meals policy. The pilot has already been a huge success with take-up more than doubling, more children eating healthier meals and an increase in pupils' readiness to learn.
"Reintroducing charges for most families will inevitably mean that fewer children get a decent healthy meal each day. Improving the quality of school meals is, in itself, not enough. Free meals available to all are essential if we're to really boost healthy eating in school."
An obesity league table published in March 2004 found that Hull was the fattest area in Britain. The tables were compiled by data analysts Experian and based on type 2 diabetes hospital admission records.
Those most likely to be overweight were white, working-class families who have poor education and do little exercise, the study found. The majority of the worst 10 areas were in the north of England and Wales, while the majority of the healthiest places were in the south-east.