Efforts to tackle the spread of bookmakers and pay-day loan shops in high streets are being hampered by the government, Waltham Forest council has said. 

A study released last week by the Royal Society for Public Health listed the Bakers Arms area, linking Hoe Street, Lea Bridge Road and High Road, Leyton, as the ninth unhealthiest in London. 

Highams Park featured 15th on the list and Wood Street at 33 out of 144 high streets across the borough. 

Rankings were based on the concentration of businesses deemed to have the most negative impact on health, such as fast-food outlets, payday lenders, bookmakers and tanning salons. 

According to deputy council leader Clyde Loakes, who has campaigned applications for betting shops in Leytonstone, the number of bookmakers across the borough has trebled in the last five years. 

But existing planning and licensing rules do not allow councils to act on the concerns expressed by members of the local community, according to the London Government Association (LGA), and shops that were formerly takeaways and wine bars can convert without planning permission.   

Cabinet member for economic growth, Cllr Clare Coghill, said the council's policy on takeaways, which stops new fast-good outlets opening within 400m of a school, park or youth facility, had been a success but admitted more needed to be done. 

She said: "We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, but we are under no illusion that there is more to do. 

"We’ve been successful in stopping our high streets from being overrun with chicken shops, but the government ties our hands and stops us doing more to stand up to betting shops and payday lenders.

"Since the introduction of our planning policy on hot food takeaways in 2010 we have refused over 80 per cent of applications to open new takeaways and seen the overall number in the borough drop by 60.

"But where the government leaves us with no power to push back we do everything we can but the deck is stacked against us.  

"We have invested heavily in our high streets up and down the borough and continue to do so with announcements made just last week about over £1million for Walthamstow High Street and £600,000 for Highams Park and south Leytonstone. 

"We will continue to invest in our high streets to keep them lively and attractive and will do all we can to ensure the right mix of businesses are encouraged and supported."