Integrating health and wellbeing into planning
Public health teams across the country are working with their colleagues in planning, and other departments, as well as the local community, to create environments that promote good health and wellbeing by making the things that improve our health accessible and affordable to everyone, regardless of their income, education or where they live.
Darrell Gale
ADPH Healthy Places Project Advisory Group Chair
New guidance has been launched today to support councils in integrating health and wellbeing into planning and design. ‘Creating health and wellbeing: A partnership approach to evidence-led planning and design in our cities, towns and villages‘, developed by the Quality of Life Foundation, aims to bridge the gap between planning and public health, providing actionable insights for decision-makers at all levels.
Tailored for those working in councils in England who shape and curate places, the guide shares tools and knowledge to foster environments that enhance community health and wellbeing. It will be valuable to public health professionals who wish to gain deeper insights into the planning process, and to understand at what points in the process they could meaningfully contribute.
Welcoming the new guide, Darrell Gale, Chair of our Healthy Places Project Advisory Group said:
“We are seeing rising numbers of people suffering from physical and mental health conditions which, had they lived in a healthier environment, may have been prevented. Far from being the fault of individual people’s decisions, the causes often lay in the opportunities their surroundings have to offer.
“To reverse this trend, public health teams across the country are working with their colleagues in planning, and other departments, as well as the local community, to create environments that promote good health and wellbeing by making the things that improve our health accessible and affordable to everyone, regardless of their income, education or where they live.
“This helpful guide has brought together evidence-based tools and real-life examples to showcase the very best of what can be achieved by working in partnership like this at a local level.”