Agenda item

Andrew L Smith, Director Planning, Transportation & Economic Development, Leicester City Council gave a presentation on how the Directorate were working to support the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.  A copy of the presentation is attached to these minutes.

The Director commented that the department was working closely together as a set of disciplines and professions in delivering programme and projects which contributed to the holistic approach towards improving health and wellbeing through addressing the wider determinants of the physical, mental and social wellbeing of people and communities.   There were linkages to the Closing The Gap Strategy in numerous plans and strategies such as the Local Plan, Local Transport Plan, Economic Action Plan and Cycle City etc.

The preparation of the new local plan for the City was an opportunity to embed health and wellbeing issues within the document that will shape the built and green environment in the future.  It was also an opportunity to link in a health impact assessment with the sustainability appraisal which was required to be carried out and this was possibly the first time it had been done in the country.  The Issues and Options document (the first stage of the local plan process) would be issued shortly and had a chapter on health. It was proposed to establish a themed workshop to focus on health and wellbeing issues and Members of the Board were invited to take part and help develop and improve the plan and the put forward the key issues that need to be included in the new plan document.

The new 10 year cycling strategy aims to substantially increase the number of people cycling in the City.  There were currently approximately 13,000 cyclists a day across the City and there was an ambitious target to double these numbers by 2018.  There were proposals to improve the infrastructure, training, promotion of cycling as an alternative mode of transport and work with a number of cycling bodies to help to achieve the targets. The Action Plan was likely to be launched in November.

The Local Sustainable Transport Fund worked closely with health partners to achieve health and wellbeing outcomes.  Details of these initiatives were shown on the presentation.  Many of these initiatives were targeted at areas of high unemployment and deprivation, targeting those likely to have health issues.  There were schemes to promote walking and to develop personalised travel planning encouraging people to change their travel behaviour.  The Sky Bike Ride was one of the most successful in the country and this year it included the news areas of access in the city.  There was also an additional Special Needs Ride around a shorter route involving specially adapted cycles and wheelchairs which was extremely well used. 

There were a number of schemes improving the infrastructure for cycling and walking around the city and approximately 11km of pedestrian routes had been completed.  Major transport infrastructure improvement schemes were included and detailed walking and cycling audits were undertaken so the opportunity for people to travel by these means were embedded into the scheme from the start.

Work was nearing completion on an Air Quality Action Plan which would be available for consultation later in the year.  It was being developed in conjunction with health colleagues to understand the areas of concern and to include measures to address these, particularly around the arterial routes, where traffic pollution was highest.  There had been some success in retro- fitting buses to make bus engines cleaner and more efficient and buses would continue to be a key measure in the initiative to bring about behavioural change in transport and travel.

Wellbeing initiatives included getting people into employment with a particular focus on promoting life chances and opportunities for young people.

The Chair commented that there was a great deal happening across the City through Council activities that contributed to health and wellbeing that were not always quantified and promoted as such.

During discussion the following comments and observations were made:-

·         The cycle training and cycling initiatives should be communicated to GPs as a practical gateway into improving health, particularly as a referral into physical activity programmes.

·         Scheme such as the ‘Bike It Scheme’ could be taken to the Secondary Head Teachers Meetings to promote and encourage take up.  

·         Where large developments were proposed in the future with a health impact assessment, there should be a mechanism for the Board to comment upon them and feed comments into the planning process.  This need not necessarily be through a formal meeting process.  The Director felt that this could be incorporated within the existing consultation process for such developments.

·         The link between air pollution and respiratory disease such as COPD, which was a major contributor to premature death in the City, was an area of interest and it would be helpful to know if there was a correlation between the incidents of respiratory disease along the arterial routes within the City and if any measures could be introduced alleviate the incidence of respiratory disease.

The Director commented that research was currently being undertaken to see if there were any patterns arising from traffic congestion on major routes, especially at peak hours when there was standing traffic. Creating a shift in people’s travel options towards cleaner buses could bring benefits.  Cycling and walking were key elements but would not in themselves bring about a step change in improving air quality.  This would be brought about by reducing traffic and having cleaner engines and emissions.

RESOLVED:

1)         That the Director be thanked for an informative and useful presentation.

2)         That the Chair discuss with the Chair of the Planning and Development Committee a mechanism for Board members to comment on large development proposals involving a health impact assessment.

3)         That the Air Quality Action Plan be submitted to the Board together with any research into links between the air quality and its impact upon health issues. 

4)         That the next presentation to the Board be on the topic of the housing economy, both private and public, covering issues such as health, good homes and warmth etc.