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 >

Health leaders in London have called for radical and urgent change in the NHS given the capital’s growing and ageing population, higher than ever patient expectations and zero financial growth.

The new report, London: a Call to Action (published by NHS England), notes that life expectancy in London has risen by 5.2 years since 1990 – a year longer than the national average – but there are stark variations in life expectancy between boroughs. read more >

The Mayor has published his Revised Early Minor Alterations to the London Plan this month.

These Alterations, first published for public consultation in February 2012, deal with changes to Government policy and other developments (such as publication of the Localism Act and the National Planning Policy Framework) that happened too late to be taken into account in the London Plan published on 22 July 2011. read more >

NHS England has today published its Business Case Approvals Process for Capital Investment, Property, Equipment and ICT guidance.

The document sets out the guiding principles, rules of delegation and underpinning processes which NHS England will apply where approval/authority is to be sought: read more >