In a series of eight films from the TRUUD research programme, participants look at their own experiences of embedding requirements for Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) in their local plans and share where they’ve seen positive impacts and what could be improved.
Based at the University of Bristol, and with researchers across six different universities, TRUUD (Tackling the Root causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development) is a £10 million research project, looking at how urban places can be planned to reduce non-communicable diseases such as cancers, diabetes, obesity, mental ill-health and respiratory illness.
Although there is no national requirement for HIAs in this context, many local authorities require them to be undertaken as part of applications for development. HIAs can include consideration of issues such as local availability of healthy food, indoor space for family or communal dining, safe spaces for play and measures to mitigate climate change.
TRUUD research identified that just 38% of local plans have an HIA policy and that officers from across planning practice were looking for examples of their use and guidance from their peers.