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ISSUES: Fitness & Health
Chapter 3: Tackling physical inactivity
Ten new“healthy” towns to be built
in England
Towns, designed to address problems such as obesity and dementia,
will have 76,000 new homes and 170,000 residents.
By Haroon Siddique
F
ast food-free zones near schools
could soon be a reality in ten
NHS England-backed “healthy”
new towns designed to encourage
people to exercise more, eat better
and live independently into old age.
The NHS hopes that by helping to
shape the way the towns are built it
can begin to address major healthcare
problems including obesity and
dementia and establish a blueprint
that will be followed elsewhere.
The ten towns selected, stretching from
Darlington to Devon, will comprise
more than 76,000 homes and 170,000
residents. They will be announced
formally by the NHS England chief
executive, Simon Stevens, at the King’s
Fund in London on Tuesday.
He said: “The much-needed push to
kickstart 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 ten years’ time we look back having
missed the opportunity to ‘design out’
the obesogenic environment [which
encourage people to eat unhealthily
and not take enough exercise], 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 fingersonvideo
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.”
Renowned clinicians, designers and
technology experts will work together
to help deliver environments that
promote healthy lifestyles.
They are likely to include easier access
to public transport and safer cycling
and pedestrian networks. For instance,
there could be so-called dementia-
friendly streets, with wider pavements,
fewer trip hazards and LCD moving
signs, which research suggests people
with the disease find easier to navigate.
There will also be an emphasis on
workplaces, schools and leisure facilities
that
encourage
physical
activity,
healthy eating and
positivemental health
and
well-being.
Previous
attempts
to
introduce
fast
food-free zones have
been hampered by
the legal difficulties
of shutting down
existing businesses –
but this would not be
an issue in new towns.
In
Darlington,
technology will be
used to develop a
“virtual care home”
whereby a group of
homes with shared facilities will link
directly into a digital care hub to avoid
institutionalisation in nursing homes.
Professor Kevin Fenton, the national
director for health and well-being at
Public Health England, 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.
The considerate design of spaces and
places is critical to promote good
health. This innovative programme
will inform our thinking and planning
of everyday environments to improve
health for generations to come.”
Physical inactivity is a direct factor in
one in six deaths, and has an overall
economic impact of £7.4 billion. A
Design Council guide estimates that
a quarter of British adults walk for less
than nine minutes a day.
The ten sites, which are at different
stages of development, are Whitehill
and Bordon in Hampshire; Cranbrook
in Devon; Darlington in County
Durham; Barking Riverside in London;
Whyndyke Farm in Fylde, Lancashire;
Halton Lea in Runcorn, Cheshire;
Bicester in Oxfordshire; Northstowe
in Cambridgeshire; Ebbsfleet Garden
City in Kent; and Barton Park in Oxford.
They were chosen from 114 applicants
from
local
authorities,
housing
associations, NHS organisations and
housing developers.
1 March 2016
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The
above
information
is
reprinted with kind permission
from
The Guardian
. Please visit
for further
information.
© 2017 Guardian News
and Media Limited
