HUDU has published new versions of the Healthy Urban Planning Checklist and its Rapid Health Impact Assessment Tool. The new versions incorporate changes to relevant planning policy and other documents since they were first published in March 2014 and Jan 2013 respectively. One of the key changes is to update all the London Plan references to reflect the further alterations to the Plan adopted in March 2015. The Checklist and the Rapid HIA tool offer different ways of helping to promote healthy urban planning and mainstream health issues and impacts into the planning process depending on the scale and nature of development proposed. For more information visit the Health Impact Assessment page.

A new initiative to put health at the heart of new neighbourhoods and towns across the country has been launched this month by NHS England together with Public Health England.

This exciting new initiative is a call to local councils and others to work together with the NHS and PHE to design and develop new town partnerships that put innovative health and social care practice at the heart of urban planning to create healthier places to live from the outset. read more >

March 2015 has seen the publication of a suite of important health and planning documents.

On the health front, The Mayor of London, NHS England (London), Public Health England, London Councils and the 32 GP-led Clinical Commissioning Groups have come together to outline how, individually and collaboratively, they will work towards London becoming the world’s healthiest major city. Better Health for London: Next Steps sets out their shared ambitions and how they will measure progress towards a set of shared goals. read more >

A new healthy urban planning checklist to help promote healthy urban planning and mainstream health issues and impacts into the planning process has been published by HUDU, the six east London Growth Boroughs and Groundwork London. The checklist builds on the Healthy Urban Planning in Practice report which was used to assess the Olympic Legacy Communities planning application and supports the Olympic Growth Boroughs’ work to achieve socio-economic ‘convergence’ – but can be used more widely. For more information click here or visit the Health Impact Assessment page.

The Government has now published its response to the consultation on proposed further regulatory reforms to CIL undertaken earlier this year.

Amongst the key changes proposed are:

• new payment in kind provisions, so that, where appropriate and acceptable to the charging authority, “the levy liability should be able to be paid (in whole or in part) through the provision of both land and/or on-site or off-site infrastructure.” (The current regulations apply just to land.)
• the deadline for introducing CIL is to be pushed back to April 2015 read more >

HUDU has responded to two recent Government (DCLG) consultations – one on greater flexibility for changes of use and the other on housing standards. Both form part of the Government’s drive to make the planning system work more efficiently and effectively, and both have implications for health and wellbeing. read more >