Agenda item

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health and the Director of Public Health, giving an overview of Place-Based Public Health and details of work undertaken with the Ebbsfleet Healthy New Town programme, other new developments in Kent and partners. The Cabinet Members are asked to note progress and endorse the approach taken by the County Council’s Public Health team on Place-Based Public Health.

1.            Dr Duggal introduced the report and set out the historical and cultural context of place-based service provision. With Mr Scott-Clark, she responded to comments and questions from Members, including the following:-

a)    district council colleagues had been fully involved in the project from an early stage. Linking the project into neighbourhood plans as they were produced was difficult as they had varying timetables, but links would be made to as many plans as possible. Mr Scott-Clark added that the aim was that public health considerations would be built into as many other policies as possible so the health impact of actions would be considered;

b)    concern was expressed that as many people as possible should be able to share and benefit from healthy new developments, but the ‘affordable housing’ which was included in many modern developments was unaffordable to many.  Dr Duggal advised that the County Council’s public health team would seek to influence partners to make the new development as democratic as possible;

c)    concern was expressed that many new developments in recent years had included very little open space or green space. Some houses had no gardens and a children’s play area involved a journey of 1.5 miles.  Although new towns such as Milton Keynes had been designed to encourage cycling, some modern developments did not offer sufficient safe room for people to walk or push a pram, and in some places it was not safe for people to walk or cycle. As part of encouraging active travel, it was important to ensure that roads and footways were safe for cyclists and walkers. Dr Duggal advised that there had been much work on active travel at Ebbsfleet, and the County Council’s Energy and Low Emissions Strategy had been incorporated to protect air quality. She undertook to find out how many car charging points would be provided across the development and advise Members outside the meeting;

d)    asked about the plans for the Lower Thames Crossing, near Ebbsfleet, Dr Duggal undertook to look into the plans and timeframe for this and advise Members outside the meeting.  She confirmed that the public health team had been involved in the Health Improvement Assessment for the Lower Thames Crossing; and

e)    asked about plans for ‘lifetime housing’, which paid particular attention to daylight and ventilation and had features built in which would support future independence and mobility as residents aged, Dr Duggal advised that there was a pilot kitemark scheme for healthy homes, to which developers had indicated they were willing to sign up.  

2.            The Cabinet Member, Mr Gibbens, advise Members that he fully supported the principal of health considerations being built into all policies, and encouraged Members to look at information about this on the Local Government Association website.  The Local Government Association also had a group working on place-based commissioning, and a model of local care provision existed as the Whitstable Model.

3.            It was RESOLVED that progress made be noted and the approach taken by the County Council’s Public Health team on place-based public health be endorsed.