Healthy Local Plans and policies

The way that places are planned, designed, built and managed has a significant influence over whether communities are able to live healthy lives.

Although a range of national planning policy and guidance supports creating healthier places, many councils and communities want advice about how, exactly, to strengthen their plans and policies to maximise the potential for new development to create places in which diverse communities can thrive.

The TCPA can provide free training, support and facilitated workshops to places and communities to do this.

Identifying and exploring local health and wellbeing opportunities and challenges

Support from the TCPA can be tailored to meet your local circumstances.

Examples of support include:

  • advice on applying a ‘healthy planning framework’ to embed health and wellbeing in Local Plans and other planning policies;
  • ‘critical friend’ support when drafting policies for healthy and wellbeing, Health Impact Assessment etc.;
  • support to build a national and local evidence base to justify policy making;
  • ‘Healthy places’ workshops to build interdisciplinary collaboration between Council teams and departments;
  • planning and policies for 20-minute neighbourhoods (complete, compact and connected places); and
  • advice on health and wellbeing in Neighbourhood Plans.

Planning for Healthy Places guide

We’ve partnered with the research project, TRUUD, to produce new guidance to help local authorities promote health through Local Plans.

TCPA workshop locations

Map of the United Kingdom with pins to identify locations of TCPA workshops

Over the last decade, the TCPA has held more than 80 workshops across the UK, facilitating close collaborations between local authority planners, public health teams and other stakeholders to help them collaborate to create healthier places. Each workshop is based on the local context and need. We help local partners understand the health context of the area and its population, and consider how new plans, policies and developments could be shaped to help reduce health inequalities.

Contact

If you are interested in support or a workshop and would like further information, please contact Gemma Hyde, Projects and Policy Manager.