Links between environmental sustainability and health agendas
The Kent Environment Strategy highlights the environmental challenges that the county continues to face, such as:
- The need to improve air and water quality;
- The continuing decline in biodiversity; and
- The effects of climate change (such as water shortages, extreme weather events, flooding and heatwaves).
Addressing all of these environmental problems will also have significant positive health outcomes. These will include reduced respiratory problems linked to poor air quality; improved mental health and reduced obesity from increased access to biodiverse green spaces; and reduced risk of stress and illness due to flooding and associated water contamination.
Similarly, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) good practice note Delivering Healthy Communities (2009) identified a significant overlap between planning policies that tackle climate change and those that can improve health and the Marmot Review: Implications for Spatial Planning (2010) recommended the prioritisation of policies and interventions that both reduce health inequalities and mitigate climate change. Key planning policy areas identified by these documents include:
- promoting active travel, such as walking and cycling (increases physical activity and reduces carbon emissions)
- delivering energy efficient homes (reduces poor health from cold and hot homes and reduces carbon emissions)
- delivering mixed use development and multi-use community buildings (increases physical activity, improves mental wellbeing and reduces carbon emissions)
- Providing good quality parks and open spaces (increases physical activity, improves mental wellbeing and adapts urban areas to a changing climate)
- improving the quality of food in local areas (there is anecdotal evidence that local access to healthy foods improves diets).
The Joint Working section provides practical guidance on addressing all of these topics, including case studies demonstrating what has been achieved through collaborative working between planners and health and environmental sustainability professionals.
Environmental sustainability specialists can collaborate with public health professionals to highlight the co-benefits of such policies for health outcomes and reducing health inequalities. Evidence for the links between changes to the environment and health is strong in many areas. See the Evidence of impact of environment on health for further details.
- Sustainability Needs Assessment chapter of the JSNA acknowledges that for a robust delivery of the strategy wider factors affecting short and long term physical and mental health need to be considered, such as access to green space, climate change resilience, air quality, housing, transport, inequality and employment.
- Joint Strategic Needs Assessment: A Guide to Integrating Sustainability (Kent County Council, 2013) This guidance is designed to support partnership working in the integration of sustainability into the JSNA and demonstrate the clear benefits of this approach. Working through will help to ensure that key aspects have been considered and cross referenced throughout the JSNA.
- Kent Environment Strategy
- Kent s Adaptation Action Plan
- Local Climate Impact Profile
- Severe Weather Impacts Monitoring System (SWIMS)
- Kent Downs AONB
- High Wealds AONB
- Greater Thames Marshes Nature Improvement Area
- Kent Local Flood Risk Management Strategy
- Spatial Water Risk Assessment
- Renewable Energy Action Plan (includes links to underlying evidence base study)
- Six Ways to Wellbeing Sets out a key approach public health are using in Kent for preventative health.
- Using the natural environment to deliver better health in Kent (Kent Nature Partnership, 2014)
- Evidence of impact of environment on health page
- Marmot Review page
- The Marmot Review: Implications for Spatial Planning This paper provides evidence about the relationships between health and spatial design, and the socio-economic gradient in environmental disadvantage.
- Sustainable Development Unit the SDU provides significant resources on environmental sustainability issues in the health sector; this includes a Sustainable Development Strategy for the Health and Care System 2014 2020 that was agreed jointly with the Local Government Association and Public Health England. All healthcare organisations are required to develop their own Sustainable Development Management Plan which is monitored via the Public Health Outcome Framework. Kent is a pilot site for implementation of the strategy.
- Delivering Healthy Communities (2009) this Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) good practice note outlines a significant overlap between planning policies that tackle climate change and those that can improve health.
- A dose of nature: addressing chronic health conditions by using the environment this short paper from University of Exeter provides a recent summary of the evidence.
- Natural solutions for tackling health inequalities sets out the potential contribution of the natural environment to reducing health inequalities in England.