The Mayor of London has launched a consultation on his new London Plan which sets the planning policy framework to shape how London evolves and develops over the next 20-25 years.

The population of London is projected to increase by 70,000 each year, reaching 10.8 million in 2041. In response to this population growth, the draft plan aims to increase the supply of new housing from 42,000 to 65,000 new homes each year and sets a strategic target of 50 per cent of all new homes being affordable. It introduces new borough housing targets. Most boroughs will see their targets increase, but the largest increases are in outer London which, if delivered, will place additional pressure of existing infrastructure.

Underpinning the draft plan are six ‘Good Growth’ policies which seek to ensure that growth is sustainable, is supported by sufficient infrastructure and benefits all Londoners. One of the Good Growth policies aims to create a healthy city which will improve Londoners’ health and reduce health inequalities. It advocates the use the Healthy Streets Approach to prioritise health in all planning decisions and requires that the potential impact of development on the health and wellbeing of communities is assessed, for example through the use of Health Impact Assessments.

Other key policy requirements include:

• Support for NHS service and estate transformation and the delivery of new or enhanced infrastructure, advocating the use of the HUDU Model to help calculate costs and developer contributions.
• Introducing polices for new growth corridors (Crossrail 2, Elizabeth Line, HS2, Trams Triangle in South London) which extend beyond London’s boundaries
• Making better use of land by maximising housing density, with new minimum housing space standards
• Annual borough benchmarks for specialist older persons housing
• Guidelines for increasing green infrastructure, delivering 50 per cent green cover across London
• Promoting active travel, including doubling the current amount of cycling provision in many new developments
• Commitment to make London a zero-carbon city by 2050
• Restricting new takeaways within 400 metres walking distance of an existing or proposed school

HUDU has contributed to the drafting of the new policies during the informal consultation stage and will be responding to the draft Plan on behalf of London CCGs. Further details on the consultation can be found here.

The HUDU Planning Contributions Model (the HUDU Model) provides a standardised and transparent approach to help calculate potential developer contributions and plan for future health infrastructure requirements. Its use is advocated in the draft London Plan.

We have refreshed the model by updating the default data on population projections, housing completions, health activity and build costs. The model can be used to assess the impact of single developments and the cumulative impact of housing and population growth in an area. In addition to GLA and ONS population projections, users are now able to manually add a population projection profile.

More information on the model can be found here

The Mayor of London has launched a consultation on his draft Health Inequalities Strategy ‘Better Health For All Londoners’  which aims to help create a healthier and fairer society and to make the healthier choice easier for everyone, including the most disadvantaged.

The draft strategy has five goals:

1. Every London child to have the best possible start in life
2. All Londoners share in a city with the best mental health in the world
3. A society, environment and economy that promotes good mental and physical health
4. London’s diverse communities to be healthy and thriving
5. To make the ‘healthy choice’ the easy choice for all Londoners

The London Plan commits the Mayor to working in partnership with other key stakeholders to reduce health inequalities by supporting the spatial implications of the Health Inequalities Strategy. In particular, the planning system has a key role to support the aims of the strategy to create healthy places, healthy communities and promote healthy habits.

The consultation runs until 30 November 2017 and further details can be found here.

Public Health England have published a review of evidence examining the links and strength of evidence between health and the built and natural environment. It provides key messages illustrated in diagrams for five aspects of the built and natural environment to help improve communication and engagement between public health and spatial planning practitioners and help shape local planning policy and decisions.

The study identifies gaps in the evidence and make recommendations for further research. However, it notes that the causal links between built environment and health are often complex and difficult to demonstrate, but a lack of evidence reviews and quantitative research does not mean that the link does not exist. Instead, a ‘whole system’ approach is needed combining different interventions based on the ‘precautionary principle’.

The report can be found here