Health Impact Assessments: Insights and Advice

We know that Health Impact Assessments can be a valuable tool to influence the health of communities across many generations. As part of our work with the Local Government Association and Office of Health Improvement and Disparities we’ve created a series of films on HIAs. For everyone involved in development and planning, the aim of these films is to give helpful practical illustrations of how HIAs are being embedded in local policies and used in practice.

In these films you’ll hear from health and planning professionals from a selection of local authorities who have demonstrated positive adoption of HIA policies, a civil servant, an elected representative and planning consultants about their experiences and recommendations.

To accompany the films Ed Kirton-Darling from our law intervention has written a blog, Health for development decision making: the role of Health Impact Assessment, and you can find some of the resources mentioned in the films at the end of this page.

We would like to thank council officers at Darlington, Doncaster, Luton, Tower Hamlets and Wakefield, the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities, Iceni Projects, RPS Group and the Local Government Association for their contributions.

Introduction to Health Impact Assessments in Development

Ed Kirton-Darling welcomes you to the series and some of our contributors outline why HIAs are important.

“Really have a clear vision for your area, because we need to articulate that to developers”

David Nelson, James Hewitt and Victoria Cooling at Darlington Borough Council discuss examples around promoting job creation and getting health assessment included early in the process.

“We are quite proactive with planning and applications that don’t even fit the criteria for HIAs we do assess and send recommendations back for.”

Emma Wilson at the City of Doncaster Council talks about the importance of thinking through the lifetime of homes and the populations that might move through them.

“Don’t be afraid to speak up because there will be a lot of technical talk, but at the end of the day, you keep in mind what you’re there for.”

Chimeme Egbutah, Public Health Service Manager (Health Inequalities) at Luton Borough Council talks through how they made an impact with HIAs at the Marsh Farm development.

“We don’t want to build the slums of the future”

Johnny Lui, Spatial Planning and Health Manager from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets explains how they looked back at past HIAs and made adjustments to policies for monitoring and engagement of vulnerable groups.

“The planning system tends to have a focus on doing as little harm as possible, and doing the most good seems to slip through the net.”

John Wilcox and Brendan Aikman from Wakefield Council give examples of how they are changing the culture towards HIAs as a tool for good.

Insights from the Office of Heath Improvement and Disparities

Andy Netherton, Programme Manager (Housing, Planning and Environments for Health) gives five key themes for consideration for an effective HIA.

Insights from planning consultants

We talk to Katy Field, Associate Director at Iceni Projects and Ryngan Pyper, Planning and Health Manager at RPS Group for their perspective on what makes a good process for their clients and how to build trust.

Insights from the Local Government Association

Cllr David Fothergill, Chair of the LGA Community Wellbeing Board explains why he sees HIAs as vital for better environments and how officers can support elected members to promote their benefits.