The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill must support creating health through planning

By Emma Cooke, External Affairs Manager

We are in no doubt at all that the environments in which we live have a direct impact on our health.

The 2010 Marmot Review highlighted the links between health and our built and natural environments. And since then, more and more evidence that these links exist has come to the fore.

The evidence is clear

As our Evidence Review highlights, people who live in the most deprived areas of the country will spend up to 18 years less in good health than those living in the most affluent places.

18 years. That’s almost two decades. Let that sink in.

And the Marmot Review: 10 years on shows clearly that place matters. It found that the unequal distribution of high-quality built environments and access to natural space contributes to health inequalities in England.

The role of the planning system

It’s without doubt then: the places where we live can considerably impact the length, quality and happiness of our lives.

And it is the role of the planning system to shape those places.

As such, the planning system is one of the greatest tools available to us in helping people to live healthier lives.

But, while the National Planning Policy Framework refers to ‘enabling healthy lifestyles’, we’re still building new homes and neighbourhoods that just don’t do that.

We’re still seeing far too many new housing developments that entrench car-dependency, or that don’t deliver the green space and social infrastructure that we know people need.

Clearly the decisions made when these developments are planned will have knock-on effects on their future residents’ ability to live healthy lives for decades to come.

But the good news? Right now, we have an opportunity to change this.

A golden opportunity

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill is making its way through Parliament, with the Lords discussing it at the moment. The Bill brings forward concrete proposals not only to address inequality but also to begin the process of reforming the planning system.

However, in its current form, the Bill misses a golden opportunity to ensure that the planning system delivers for health.

That’s why — through the Better Planning Coalition — we’re supporting a new clause put forward by Lord Stevens of Birmingham, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, Lord Young of Cookham and Lord Foster of Bath to create a statutory planning duty to address health inequalities.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: our planning system must deliver for the betterment of health. Because by getting planning right, we can help people live happier, healthier lives.

And who wouldn’t want that?