Ten areas across the UK have been picked to become “healthy towns” in a bid to tackle the nation’s obesity crisis.
NHS England has outlined plans to help create the new communities, which will be focused on “healthy living”.
The health service will have a role in planning the new towns, which will provide more than 76,000 homes across England, and will use them to test out possible solutions to tackle obesity and help people with dementia.
Options to be tested at some of these sites include fast food-free zones near schools, designing safe and appealing green spaces and creating ‘dementia-friendly’ streets.
NHS England said it will bring together clinicians, designers and technology experts to “re-imagine” how health and care can be delivered across these new communities.
We want to see adaptable home designs that make it easier for older people to continue to live independently
In a speech yesterday, NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said: “The much-needed push to kick-start affordable housing across England creates a golden opportunity for the NHS to help promote health and keep people independent. As these new neighbourhoods and towns are built, we’ll kick ourselves if in 10 years’ time we look back having missed the opportunity to ‘design out’ the obesogenic environment, and ‘design in’ health and well-being.
“We want children to have places where they want to play with friends and can safely walk or cycle to school – rather than just exercising their fingers on video games. We want to see neighbourhoods and adaptable home designs that make it easier for older people to continue to live independently wherever possible. And we want new ways of providing new types of digitally-enabled local health services that share physical infrastructure and staff with schools and community groups.”
Stevens also highlighted the high prevalence of obesity among youngsters, the small proportion of children that play outdoors compared to their parents and the high levels of physical inactivity among British adults.
The sites picked to be part of the programme are Whitehill and Bordon in Hampshire, Cranbrook in Devon, a new development in Darlington, Barking Riverside in London, Halton Lea in Runcorn, Cheshire, Whyndyke Farm in Fylde, Lancashire, a new community in Bicester, Oxfordshire, Northstowe in Cambridgeshire, Ebbsfleet Garden City in Kent and Barton Park in Oxford.
Kevin Fenton, national director for Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England, which is supporting the project, said: “Some of the UK’s most pressing health challenges – such as obesity, mental health issues, physical inactivity and the needs of an ageing population – can all be influenced by the quality of our built and natural environment.”
George McNamara, head of policy and public affairs at the Alzheimer’s Society, added: “Hundreds of thousands of people living with dementia feel isolated and lonely because the communities they live in fail to meet their needs. Tragically, this often leads to increased ill-health and premature admission to care homes, which can be avoided if towns create dementia-friendly environments.
“Healthy New Towns has the potential to stimulate a housing revolution which sees the creation of homes purpose-built to enable people to live independently for as long as possible. Far from a one-off, we urge for this initiative to be adopted as widely as possible.”
Details of some of the projects
Eco-Bicester, Oxfordshire
The development in northwest Bicester plans to create 6,000 zero carbon homes. As well as assessing the impact of a zero carbon community, officials plan to create a community where “healthy living comes as standard”. Each home will come with a tablet that provides live travel, home energy efficiency and community information. There will be up to 40 per cent green space with pedestrian and cycle networks to promote physical activity.
Whitehill and Bordon, Hampshire
There are 3,350 new homes being built on the site of former army barracks. Some of the properties will be “care ready homes” which means they have been designed to be adaptable to the needs of people with long-term conditions. The community will also benefit from a nurse-led treatment centre, pharmacy and integrated care hub.
Cranbook, Devon
Figures suggest that Cranbrook has three times the national average of children under the age of four. Experts developing the new site, which will create 8,000 new homes, plan to look at how healthy lifestyles can be taught in schools from a young age.
Barking, London
More than 10,000 homes are being created on London’s largest brownfield site. Experts plan to integrate the latest health and social care research into the development of the new community. Officials plan to work with academics to assess how green spaces and waterways can improve health and reduce health inequalities – and embed this knowledge into planning policy. They also want to make ‘age-friendly’ public spaces.
Ebbsfleet Garden City in Kent
The new development of up to 15,000 new homes in the first garden city for 100 years aims to provide an environment for residents that promotes “active and sustainable healthy living”. Together with developing health and care facilities to meet the needs of the new community, planners aim to create “multifunctional green spaces, high-quality leisure facilities and healthy eating venues” alongside “active transport links” to encourage cycling and walking.