Health and wellbeing
Policy PODM58: Designing places for healthy lives
- Development proposals that support healthy choices, healthy behaviours and reduce health inequalities will be supported.
- All new housing, commercial and recreational development are required to explain how their development facilitates enhanced health and wellbeing through the provision of conditions supportive of good physical and mental health. This shall be done as follows:
- For developments of over 50 dwellings, developments of less than 50 dwellings but which are deemed to impact health services potentially significantly, development that includes care homes, housing for the elderly, or student accommodation and development that involves the significant loss of public open space, the Norfolk and Waveney Health Protocol shall apply.
- For all new housing below the threshold set out in a) as well as commercial and recreational developments, the Small Sites Healthy Planning Checklist as set out in appendix 13 shall apply.
Reasoned Justification
The link between planning and health has been long established, and the built and natural environments are major determinants of health and wellbeing. The Health Map shows how individual determinants, including a person’s age, sex and hereditary factors, are nested within wider determinants such as lifestyle choices, social and community influences, living and working conditions and general socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions.
The Government is clear about the role of health and wellbeing in planning, stating that ‘local planning authorities should ensure that health and wellbeing, and health infrastructure are considered in local and neighbourhood plans and in planning decision making’ (NPPG).
Working with Norfolk and Suffolk Public Health and Norfolk and Waveney NHS colleagues, a Health Protocol has been produced. This sets out how to engage with various health related organisations for certain planning applications. It also includes a checklist to ensure that health is considered as part of applications. The checklist, however, is more orientated towards larger schemes. As and when these thresholds are met then that checklist will be used:
- A housing development of 50 dwellings or more
- A development of less than 50 dwellings but which is still deemed to impact health services potentially significantly
- A development that includes care homes, housing for the elderly, or student accommodation
- A development that involves the significant loss of public open space
The threshold of this policy is all new housing, commercial and recreational development. Working with health colleagues, we have produced a small sites checklist to reflect smaller development. The Small Sites Healthy Planning Checklist can be found at Appendix 13 and is expected to be filled out for all new housing, commercial and recreational development (although if the threshold for the protocol is met, then that will take precedence).
As set out in the Design Policy (PODM51), the Authority seeks the use of the principles set out in Building for a Healthy Life (2020). This aims to create places that are better for people and nature. Twelve considerations are presented to help those involved in new developments to think about the qualities of successful places and how these can be best applied to the individual characteristics of a site and its wider context. Aspects of Building for a Healthy Life have been incorporated into the checklists.
There are six themes under which planning applications for new housing, commercial and recreational development can provide ‘conditions supportive of good physical and mental health’ and these are reflected in the checklist. All new housing, commercial and recreational development are required to produce a statement saying how their proposal addresses:
- Partnership and inclusion, including engagement and integration.
- Vibrant neighbourhoods, including access to social infrastructure, access to local food shops and the public realm.
- Active lifestyles, including access to green space and active travel.
- Healthy environment, including construction, equality, noise, open space, renewable energy, biodiversity, local food growing, flood risk and overheating.
- Healthy housing, including accessible housing, healthy living, and housing mix and affordability.
- Economic activity, including local employment and healthy workspaces.
Sport England offers guidance on designing and adapting where we live to encourage activity in our everyday lives (Sport England, Active Design, Active Design | Sport England.).
It is important to note that other policies in this Plan are also relevant to a healthy community, such as those on tranquillity, amenity, sport and recreation, pollution and housing need, all of which have an impact on health and wellbeing.
Reasonable alternative options
An alternative is to not require smaller development to fill out the smaller schemes’ checklist.
Sustainability appraisal summary
The following is a summary of the assessment of the policy and alternative(s).
A: Original policy. 1 positives. 0 negatives. 0 ? Overall, positive.
B: Amended policy. 4 positives. 0 negatives. 0 ? Overall, positive.
C: No policy. 0 positives. 0 negatives. 4 ?
How has the existing policy been used since adoption in May 2019?
According to recent Annual Monitoring Reports, the policy has not been regularly applied.
Why has the alternative option been discounted?
As worded, the original checklist, as set out in the Health Protocol, is not easily applicable to smaller schemes. That is why it has been used as a basis to produce one that is more applicable to the schemes in the Broads. We consider it important that schemes that are smaller than the threshold used for the Norfolk and Waveney Protocol consider health implications.
No results were found