Portsmouth urban planning and health seminar, 1 December 2014

Seminar 3:Urban planning and health
1 December 2014

HOW PLANNING CAME ABOUT
Town and Country Planning Act 1947
• Address impact of industrialisation
– poor housing and unhealthy
conditions
• Address north – south divide
• Address environmental concerns

PLANNING TODAY
Purpose of planning is to achieve sustainable development.
Three main roles:
• Economic role
• Social role
• Environmental role

Portsmouth -
Creating a place to
be
Good
open
space
High quality
public
transport
network
Location of
development
Attractive
architectural design
and public realm
Provision of
supporting
infrastructure
Attract
employers to
the city and
increase skills
Provide a
variety of
housing to
meet need
Visitor
attractions
and places
to stay
Vitality and
viability of
our town
centres
Preserve and
enhance
natural & built
environment
PLANNING IS CROSS CUTTING

PLANNING – one of the most important ways to improve health and well-being
Active Travel Open spaces and nature
conservation
Sustainable design

Planning and Health – the links
Reduce pollution
& flood risk
New
housing
Employment
opportunities

PLANNING IN PORTSMOUTH – THE CONTEXT
Solent LEP –drive future economic growth of the Solent Area
Strategic Economic Plan – Transforming Solent
• Deliver 5,000 jobs & 10,000
new homes by 2021
• Enable delivery of key sites
• Improve transport connectivity
• Enhance skills
• Support new businesses and SMEs

PLANNING IN PORTMSOUTH – THE CONTEXT
Partnership for Urban South Hampshire:
• aims to deliver sustainable economic-led
growth and regeneration and improve
quality of life
• Produces spatial strategy for the PUSH area
to achieve the above aim:
• Focus development in cities
• Provide for employment and housing
• Conserve unique natural features and
heritage
• Enable the area to become more
sustainable and resilient to climate
change

PLANNING IN PORTSMOUTH – what we do
Strategic Planning:
• set direction for future development of city (Portsmouth Plan, Seafront
Masterplan, City Centre Masterplan)
• deliver objectives of the SEP and PUSH strategy
• infrastructure planning
• conservation and design
Development management:
• deal with planning applications
• negotiate with developers to achieve best development
• enforcement
Facilitate delivery of key development sites

KEY PLANNING ISSUES IN PORTSMOUTH
• Accommodating development
• Housing delivery
• Floodrisk
• Regeneration
• Nature conservation
• Infrastructure

After the war a massive reconstruction project was started in Portsmouth. The
opportunity was also taken for ‘slum clearance’, the demolition of many of the
city’s sub-standard houses, some of which did not have toilets or running water.

Over the centuries a lot of land has been reclaimed from the sea around
Portsmouth. This includes the area around Horsea Island (top) which today is
Port Solent, and North Harbour, which today includes a large Tesco and IBM.
Much of the land was reclaimed through landfill, as by the 1960s the municipal
landfill in Milton was coming to the end of its life.

Land reclamation happening in the 19th century, during the extension of
Portsmouth Dockyard. What is now Gunwharf Quays was also built on former
mudflats.

In 1995 Gosport and Portsmouth Councils created a joint plan to regenerate
Portsmouth Harbour for the new millennium, while reflecting on the achievements
of the previous millenniums.

In 1996, Berkeley Group bought HMS Vernon and began work on a mixed-use
redevelopment scheme along with lines outlined in a Gunwharf Development Brief
which the City Council had produced in 1995.

In the first ten years of being open, Gunwharf Quays attracted over 60 million
visitors, bringing an annual income of £160 million and 2,000 jobs. Gunwharf
has also opened up parts of the city which had been off-limits to the public for
hundreds of years.

www.portsmouth.gov.uk
Green Infrastructure and Health
David Moorman – Parks Manager, PCC
Andrea Wright – Public Health Development Manager, PCC

How much green space do we have?
• 760 hectares of publically accessible green space
• Further 289 hectares of non-accessible green space
(excludes private gardens)
• 3.6 hectares per 1000 population
Southampton 4.7
Plymouth 5.1

Green space standards
• PPG17 suggests locally derived standards
• But some national standards persist
• Fields in Trust (formerly NPFA) “6-acre standard” for active
recreation
Type of green space Standard
(ha/1000)
Portsmouth’s total
(ha/1000)
Outdoor sport 1.6 0.52
Informal play space 0.55 0.80
Equipped play space 0.25 0.08
Total 2.4 1.4

ANGSt standards
• Natural England’s Accessible Natural Greenspace
Standards (ANGSt)
• “People living in towns and cities should have:”
– an accessible natural green space of at least 2 hectares in
size, no more than 300 metres from home
– one accessible 20 hectare site within two kilometres of home
– one accessible 100 hectare site within five kilometres of home
– one accessible 500 hectare site within ten kilometres of home

Some positive news
• 91% of people in Portsmouth use their local parks or
playgrounds (national = 87%).
• 95% of people in Portsmouth think it is important to have
green spaces near to where they live (national = 93%).
• Even more popular with children:
Survey of children Portsmouth National
TellUs3 (2008) 77% 74%
TellUs4 (2009) 72% 66%
• 2.6 billion visits to the UK’s parks each year

Satisfaction levels

Parks are
important
to people
Factor in making somewhere a good place to live %
The level of crime 63
Clean streets 51
Health services 41
Affordable decent housing 33
Parks and open spaces 32
Public transport 30
Shopping facilities 27
Education provision 24
The level of traffic congestion 22
Activities for teenagers 21
Job prospects 20
Wage levels and local cost of living 18
Facilities for young children 16
Road and pavement repairs 16
Access to nature 15
The level of pollution 13
Cultural facilities (e.g. cinemas, museums) 12
Sports and leisure facilities 11
Community activities 9
Race relations 2
Other 3

Volunteering
• Friends groups
• Tree wardens
• Allotment associations

It’s not just parks or playing fields
• Blue spaces
• Trees
• Allotments
• Golf courses

Accessibility
• Distance from a green space
• Physical access
• Barriers to access

Barriers to access
• Antisocial behaviour
• Perceived lack of safety
• Gangs of teenagers
• Drunk and rowdy behaviour
• Uncontrolled dogs
• Dog fouling
• Litter
• Drug use
• Lack of information on what is available
45

Green spaces and health
Benefits:
Physical health
Mental health
Social wellbeing
Economic health
46 www.portsmouth.gov.uk

Green environment and health
• Green space in towns and cities could lead to significant
and sustained improvements in mental health – “1 in 4
people experience mental health problems in the course
of a year” (Goldberg,1991)
• Increasing green spaces in cities - such as parks and
gardens could deliver substantial benefits to public
health
• Therefore environmental policies to increase urban
green space may have sustainable public health benefits
Ref: Alcock et al., 2013
47

Green space and health benefits
• Every 10% increase in green space is associated with a
reduction in diseases equivalent to an increase of five
years of life expectancy
• Easily accessible and safe urban forests and green spaces
have also been found to have the following health benefits:
– Increased physical activity and reduced obesity
– Reduced stress levels and improvements in mental health
– Reductions in noise levels, which can improve mental and physical health
– Improvements in hospital recovery times
– Lower levels of violence and crime and increased social interactions which
can also help improve overall well-being
Ref: European Environmental Agency, 2014
48

Portsmouth Deprivation
49
• Portsmouth is ranked 76th out of 326
local authorities in England
• Charles Dickens, Paulsgrove, Cosham
and St Thomas wards are most
deprived
• Male life expectancy is significantly
shorter than England. And within the
City, life expectancy is 10.8 yrs shorter
in deprived areas for men and 6.1 yrs
for women

Green exercise
• Green exercise is activity in the presence of nature
• It leads to positive short and long-term health outcomes
• Both intensity and duration showed large benefits from short
engagements in green exercise
• Every green environment improved both self-esteem and mood;
the presence of water generated greater effects
• Men and women – similar improvements in self-esteem with the
greatest change in young; diminishing with age
• Young and old least change in mood
• Mentally ill one of the biggest improvements in self-esteem
Ref: 50 Barton and Pretty, 2010

Green exercise
2 x Fit points – Canoe Lake and
Opposite D-Day museum
51
11 x Healthy walks in the city

General economic benefits
– economic growth and
investment
– land and property
values
– labour productivity
– tourism
– products from the
land
– health and wellbeing;
recreation and leisure
– quality of place
– land management and
biodiversity
– land management and
biodiversity
– flood alleviation and
management
– climate change
adaptation and mitigation
Ref: Groundwork UK, 2014
52

Social benefits
– People who live near green spaces are more likely to
feel a sense of attachment
– Overgrown or neglected spaces with damaged or
dilapidated facilities affect older people and children in
particular: parents are less likely to allow or encourage
their children to play outdoors and may perceive such
places as risky and associated with anti-social
behaviour
– Projects to improve the local environment build
friendships and a sense of community
53

Green spaces and play
– Play is one of the most important social benefits of
green spaces
– Open spaces enable children to develop
imagination and creativity, building dens and
interacting with the natural environment
– Play enables children to socialise and meet others
from different backgrounds, bridging cultural and
class divides
54

Portsmouth green and open spaces
• Around 200 non specified – green and open spaces
eg parks, playing fields, cemeteries, allotments ,
common, beach/seafront
55
However
measuring
usage is
very difficult

Utilising outdoor space for exercise/health
56
Source: Public Health Outcomes Framework, Public Health England.

Adults walking in Portsmouth for utility purposes
57

Access to
green space
Participation
in sport &
active
recreation
(30 mins, 3
days a week)

Increasing the Use and Enjoyment of
Accessible Open and Green Spaces in Portsmouth
• Parents in Portsmouth have strongly positive attitudes to
physical activity and outdoor play:
– 92% agree that ‘it is vital that children take regular exercise
outside’
– 88% agree that ‘children that play outside with nature around
them are happier
• Overall claimed usage of accessible open and green spaces
is reasonably high with 83% of people claiming to visit a park,
play area or open and green space at least once or twice per
week
• Proximity to where people live and the area having lots of
activities or things are the main reasons for using them
59 Ref: Brilliant Futures, 2009

• Perceived lack of safety is the key barrier preventing
greater use of open and green spaces in the city with
antisocial behaviour amongst gangs of teenagers often
cited
• Other barriers include:
– uncontrolled dogs
– dog fouling
– misuse by others (predominantly drug taking)
– poor lighting
– not enough things to do
Ref: Brilliant Futures, 2009 60

• Considerable amount of participants responded with a
need for more:
– play areas for 8-12 year olds
– more grass pitches on school sites
– slightly more green spaces in housing areas
– community gardens and allotments
Ref: Brilliant Futures, 2009 61

Funding issues
• The Audit Commission reports that Government funding to
local authorities reduced by an average of almost 20% in real
terms between 2010–11 and 2013–14
• Some of the poorest councils in the most deprived areas of
England have experienced cumulative cuts that will average
25% by 2016.
• 86% of park managers report that revenue budgets for day-to-day
maintenance have been cut
• 77% of council parks departments have lost frontline staff
• 45% of local authorities are considering disposing of some
green spaces
62

Basic questions that need answers
• The amount & location of urban green space
• What state are our urban green spaces in?
• How much urban green space is publicly accessible?
• How much money is spent on urban green spaces?

Attempts at answers

Contact details
David Moorman
Parks Manager
Portsmouth City Council
david.moorman@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
023 9268 8461
Andrea Wright
Public Health Development Manager
Portsmouth City Council
andrea.wright@portmsouthcc.gov.uk
023 9284 1563

How can we plan for healthier places?
Portsmouth, 1 December 2014
Andrew Ross, Final Draft Consultancy

Overview
1. About the TCPA and Reuniting Health with
Planning
2. How can we plan healthier places?
3. Messages from the frontline

1 Town & Country Planning Association
Areas of focus
(TCPA)
• Independent planning charity
established 1899
• Work Programme includes projects
and campaigns on Garden Cities,
Climate Change, Social Justice, and
Planning Reform

Reuniting Health with Planning

Reuniting Health with Planning (2)

Gateshead
Hertfordshire &
districts
Medway
Belfast
Knowsley
Sefton
Lincolnshire &
districts
Manchester
Stockport
Sandwell
Suffolk &
districts
Luton
Newham
Bristol
2. How can we plan healthier places?

A focus on the ‘how’: what local
authorities can do
1. Work collaboratively
2. Make evidence useful
3. Align policy
4. Engage elected members
5. Be a model developer

Work collaboratively
• Embed health specialists
in planning, transport,
regeneration, housing
• Bristol, Coventry,
Knowsley, Lincolnshire,
Luton, Newham,
Stockport ++

Make evidence useful
• Expand understanding of
evidence to include case
studies, case law and
community engagement

Align policy
• Portsmouth Core Strategy has
policy on creating a healthy city
• Portsmouth Joint Health and
Wellbeing Strategy has priority
to create a healthy
environment

Engage elected members
• Councillors often acutely aware
of local health problems
• Find areas of overlapping
concern
• Birmingham – anti-social
aspects of hot food takeaways
used as hook for including
obesity concerns
Source: Heads Together Productions/Methleys Neighbourhood Action

Be a model developer
• £14.4 million extra care
housing scheme developed
by First Ark
• land supplied at below
market rate by Knowsley
Council
• demonstrates long-term
health savings of upfront
investment

3. Lessons from the frontline (1)
1. Public health practitioners can be allies for planners, but they
need to be proactive and understand the planning system

need to be proactive and understand planning system
2. Integrating public health raises policy challenges for planning
, and vice versa

Healthy food and drink?

Reduce car space for active travel?
Saunders & Sumner
2014’

Active spaces that neighbours accept?

Secure by Design versus direct networks?

JHWS,
obesity and
the built
environment

3. Planners’ role to help tackle health inequalities is generally
poorly understood

Darlington Open Spaces Strategy
• People living in deprived parts of the town less likely to be close to high
quality spaces
• Strategy prioritises improving the quality of open spaces close to areas
of multiple deprivation
• Prepared by planners

3. Planners’ role to help tackle health inequalities is generally
poorly understood – need public health input
4. Viability/deregulation is ongoing challenge for planners

• The absence of both light
and a view ‘would not be
unacceptably oppressive.’
Planning Inspectorate appeal
decision
Viability: your place needs you

Keep in touch
TCPA planning and health pages
www.tcpa.org.uk/pages/health.html
@CulturePlanning on health & planning work.
Andrew Ross
andrew.alex.ross@gmail.com

Building performance and
occupant behaviour
Prof Mark Gaterell

Content
• Performance gap in buildings
• Reasons for the performance gap
• Implications of the gap
• Impact of future uncertainties

Performance gap - domestic
Zero Carbon Hub, 2010

CarbonBuzz median CO2 emissions per sector - predicted vs. actual
200
150
100
50
0
CO2 emissions (kgCO2/m2/year)
Education Offices Retail
Predicted
Actual
Performance gap non-domestic

Reasons for the performance gap
• Design assumptions
• Modelling tools
• Built quality
• Occupant behaviour

Actual – Real energy use
Extra occupancy
& operating hours
Unregulated Energy Use includes: plugload, server rooms, security, external lighting, lifts etc.
Special Functions include: trading floors, cafeteria etc.
Special
functions
Design forecast
Forecast Regulated CO2
Part L
Unregulated CO2
Inefficiencies
From BMS
Regulated Energy Use includes: fixed building services, heating, hot water, cooling, ventilation, lighting
Reference: Aedas Architects 2010

(BRE, 2000)

(NHBC, 2013)
Construction quality

MVHR
• Examples of failures in typical design, installation and commissioning practice
are all too common – badly performing systems may not deliver the anticipated
carbon savings;
• Good control is essential to the correct operation of systems, good practice in
the design and provision of controls is uncommon.
• Realising good performance throughout the life of systems also requires that
maintenance is undertaken in accordance with manufacturers’ requirements.
Many systems installed in locations, such as roof spaces, where access for user-maintenance
is restricted.
• Anecdotal reports that a market for replacement filters does not exist at present,
which suggests that even basic maintenance is not being undertaken, possibly
because users are not aware of the requirement for it.

(NHBC, 2012)

(NHBC, 2010)

(Hong et al., 2009)
Occupant Behaviour
UCL study moving 95 homes to
Warm Front standards:
Modelling suggested that after
intervention space heating fuel
consumption would drop by
approximately 25%

(Hong et al., 2009)
Occupant Behaviour
UCL study moving 95 homes to
Warm Front standards:
Modelling suggested that after
consumption would drop by
approximately 25%
Monitoring suggested that after
consumption actually rose by
approximately 9%

(Guerra Santin, 2013)

Impact of gap
• Risks to long-term viability of built assets (social and economic
implications)
• Increasing reliance on low carbon technologies could change the nature of
urban planning
• Direct health effects associated with performance gap
• Carbon targets not met

Abu Aisheh Y.I., Yates T. and Gaterell M.R., Sustainable refurbishment for post-war educational buildings
under a changing climate, Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Eng. Sustain., 163(1), 23 –30 (2010).
Impacts of future uncertainty - Climate Change

This graph shows how the number of deaths spiked in Paris during a sweltering heat wave in 2003. Credit: University of Hawaii at Manoa/Benedicte Dousset
Impacts of future uncertainty - Climate Change

Impacts of future uncertainty – combating overheating

Impacts of future uncertainty – Adaptive Comfort

Scenario based approach
Systematically evaluate relative
vulnerability of different sustainability
solutions
Provide a transparent methodology to
identify opportunities to future-proof
interventions at a range of scales
Enable new scenarios or disciplines to
be included in the analysis

Impacts of future uncertainty
• Future uncertainties pose significant risks to building performance and
health
• Occupant responses to comfort conditions likely to have implications at an
urban scale
• Understanding subjective nature of such responses key to delivering an
effective built environment

Portsmouth urban planning and health seminar, 1 December 2014

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Portsmouth urban planning and health seminar, 1 December 2014