{"id":23071,"date":"2016-03-03T16:12:59","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T16:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=23071"},"modified":"2016-03-03T16:12:59","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T16:12:59","slug":"healthy-towns-scheme-piloted-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/healthy-towns-scheme-piloted-nhs\/23071\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy towns scheme to be piloted by the NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week NHS England announced 10 new towns will form the pilot of a new healthy town initiative\u2026<\/span><\/h2>\n

Ten new towns across England are set to become test sites to tackle health care challenges<\/span><\/a> facing society today.<\/p>\n

The initiative, supported by Public Health England<\/span><\/a>, will see new communities across England turned into healthy towns.<\/p>\n

The project will involve more than 76,000 new homes and an estimated 170,000 residents. The NHS will be involved in shaping how these sites are developed, using the expertise of clinicians, designers, and technology experts to reimagine how healthcare can be delivered. It will focus on bringing together design of the built environment with modern health and care services.<\/p>\n

NHS England<\/span><\/a> chief executive Simon Stevens said: \u201dAs these new neighbourhoods and towns are built, we\u2019ll kick ourselves if in 10 years time we look back having missed the opportunity to \u2019design out\u2019 the obesogenic environment, and \u2018design in\u2019 health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want children to have places where they want to play with friends and can safely walk or cycle to school \u2013 rather than just exercising their fingers on video games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Locality<\/span><\/a>, a national network of ambitious and enterprising community-led organisations, said the initiative was an exciting opportunity to improve the health and wellbeing of thousands.<\/p>\n

Chief executive Tony Armstrong said: \u201cWe know that obesity, sedentary lifestyles and isolation are growing and that the built environment can have a huge impact on the health and wellbeing of communities; green spaces and infrastructure can encourage walking, cycling, interaction between people in the street and outdoor play for children.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut these new towns need to be built on the strong foundations of community involvement if they truly are to be \u2018healthy\u2019. They need resilient community organisations at their hearts to support people to come together and shape the priorities for their local area and to create healthy, thriving communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn planning and developing these communities, it is vital that we don\u2019t just focus on the bricks and mortar, but also support the development of strong community infrastructure and make sure that local people are involved in decisions which affect their local area from day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first 10 sites will include:<\/p>\n