Public Health Wales have published a suite of documents that will help inform and enable healthier future environments including strategies to help stem the rise in obesity in Wales.
‘Planning and Enabling Healthy Environments’ is a suite of documents that has been developed by health experts to assist local authority planning policy and development management officers, national and local public health team practitioners, environmental health representatives, national advocates and policy makers for planning and health, and developers in Wales to contribute to the creation of healthy environments, including healthy weight.
It provides context and information on the current barriers to creating healthy environments, relevant planning policy and different approaches for achieving these environments at national and local levels, and a series of case studies using examples from Wales and the United Kingdom (UK) of Local Authorities (LAs) who have already utilised innovative and practical actions to overcome the challenges that many people face in sustaining healthy lifestyles.
The resource provides a practical template for a Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) for Healthy Weight Environments, providing the context and information to contribute to and support local land use policies and Local Development Plans (LDPs).
It is for those who wish to use the planning system to work towards creating environments which achieve both planning and public health goals to address obesity, diet, physical activity, social cohesion and mental well-being.
The six elements to planning healthy weight environments are:
- Movement and access
- Open spaces, play and recreation
- Healthy food
- Neighbourhood spaces and social infrastructure
- Buildings, and
- Local economy.
The full resource can be found here:
Planning and Enabling Health Environments Main Resource
Planning and Enabling Health Environments Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG)