We respond to the Town Regeneration Framework
The Health Improvement Commission has responded to the public consultation on St Peter Port regeneration areas. The Health Improvement Commission team (working in Substance Use, Eat Well, Be Active, Healthier Weight and Bailiwick Social Prescribing) undertook walking tours of the three proposed regeneration areas. The teams took photos, explored strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities, and recorded their observations focussing on opportunities for health and wellbeing. The observations have been shared with the Development and Planning Authority and can be viewed here.
"The potential for our local built environment to improve our health is vast. We know that there is a relationship between the places that we live, work, and socialise and our health. The regeneration of the identified areas in St Peter Port presents a wonderful opportunity to purposefully design areas to enable healthy living and make healthy choices easier at the same time as other key aims such as increasing vibrancy, dwell time and improving the public realm. In light of the negative impact of Covid-19 on both our economy and our health, now is the time to invest in building environments to help stimulate recovery and future prosperity in both areas."
The response focused on three principles that can be applied to developing healthy urban environments. Those principles are:
- Making neighbourhoods a healthy and sustainable place to live
- Building an environment that makes it easy to be active
- Building an environment where it is easy to eat healthily
The response made general observations declaring that the commission team was impressed with the vision and objectives presented in the draft framework. It also noted that the Draft Development Framework is very strong on designing in physical activity opportunities. However, it is weaker on considering the impact of proposals on the food environment as one element of good place-making including food retail, growing opportunities and the avoidance of a high density of hot food takeaways. The team advocates for a planning approach which supports provision of healthier, affordable food for the general population which includes decreased exposure to unhealthy food environments.
It also recommends that Health added as a Key Planning Issue.
"St Peter Port has a wonderful historical legacy and it is exciting to have the opportunity to consider how the town can evolve in the future to best serve islanders in the 21st century. It was a fascinating experience to consider St Peter Port with fresh eyes and to consider the development of healthy environments in the planning for the three regeneration areas. Our recommendations reflect a commitment to enabling healthy living by advocating for heathy places with pragmatic recommendations."