Law and local government

Aims

• To strengthen legal capacity for health at local government level.
• To identify routes for the promotion of the value of health in the decision-making of private developers.
• To promote understanding and assist advocacy efforts to improve the legal determinants of health in urban development.

Methods

We will co-produce authoritative materials to improve the understanding and use of law to promote the value of health, with a focus on health promotion and prevention of NCDs. The materials will be developed within two bodies of work.

These will apply first to local planning policies and decision-making in Local Planning Authorities (LPAs), as well as the decision-making of private developers. This part of the work will lead to the creation and dissemination of freely-accessible training materials to promote, through law, the better and wider use and application of health impact assessments.

Secondly, we will create materials focused on the overall legal context, identifying areas where legal reform would better serve the generation of healthy urban environments. This will lead to a co-produced, publicly-accessible report on the legal determinants of health. The report will be designed to inform public discourse and debate, and to assist advocacy efforts for legal reform.

Briefing note

We intend that our work should lead to:

• The inclusion of the HAUS tool in related government tools and processes,
• Greater coherence between government departments on health prevention, including Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, HM Treasury and Department of Health and Social Care, and
• Awareness of and advocacy for the HAUS tool amongst national level stakeholders.

Achieving these outcomes should contribute in the longer term to greater consideration for the wider determinants of health in urban development at the national level and greater prioritisation of health outcomes in urban development processes, including funding mechanisms.

Briefing notes

Law, Health and Planning: Using Health Impact Assessments to improve urban health

Academics

Professor John Coggon at the University of Bristol

Dr Ed Kirton-Darling at University of Bristol