The Local Government Association has made the claim amid warnings that recent government cuts to council’s public health grants are already having an impact on their ability to reduce obesity.
Cllr Izzi Seccombe, LGA community wellbeing portfolio holder, said: “The staggering amount of money councils are having to plough into obesity prevention work shows the sheer scale of the crisis we face.
"Councils are without doubt the best placed to tackle obesity before it becomes a problem, and the huge investment they are making shows how committed they are to dealing with the issue.
"From working with children who are obese and overweight to encouraging children to cut their consumption of sugary drinks, since taking over responsibility for public health three years ago, local authorities have been leading the way in the fight against obesity.”
Newly published figures for how much councils expect to spend tackling obesity in 2016/17 are forecast to be £127 million – down on the £140 million estimated in 2015/16. In 2014/15 councils spent £126 million, and £112 million in 2013/14 on tackling obesity.
Councils use the funding to, for example, commission weight management services, exercise referral schemes and extending the offer of free or reduced-cost sport – for example swimming – and leisure facilities.
The numbers also include the cost of running the Government's National Child Measurement Programme, which councils are responsible for. The programme currently calculates a child's BMI when they start and leave primary school.
The Association warns that if current trends are not reversed, the overall cost to the economy of obesity and overweight conditions could increase from between £6 billion and £8bn in 2015 to between £10bn and £12bn in 2030.
Seccombe added: “We would like assurances from the Government's new administration that the long-awaited childhood obesity strategy is still on track and that it includes tough measures that will help to reverse the rise in costs and children becoming obese.
"Today's obese children will be tomorrow's obese adults, and with this comes a range of costly and debilitating major health conditions."