Back to top

Local Plan

The purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development and achieving it means that the planning system has three overarching objectives i.e. economic, social and environmental. The food system cuts across all three arms of sustainable development.

Local Plan

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)  recognises the design and use of the built and natural environments are major determinants of health and wellbeing. NPPF sustainable development social objective should support strong, vibrant and healthy communities, by fostering well-designed, beautiful and safe places, with accessible services and open spaces that reflect current and future needs and support communities’ health, social and cultural well-being. The protection of land for food growing is covered under the environmental objective and support for healthy food businesses, local shops and markets under the economic objective.

Policies for “Promoting healthy and safe communities” aim to achieve a healthy food environment. Health and wellbeing is also addressed through policies for design and landscaping (paragraph 135)

Planning policies and decisions should aim to achieve healthy, inclusive and safe places which:

c) enable and support healthy lives, through both promoting good health and preventing ill-health, especially where this would address identified local health and well-being needs and reduce health inequalities between the most and least deprived communities – for example through the provision of safe and accessible green infrastructure, sports facilities, local shops, access to healthier food, allotments and layouts that encourage walking and cycling. (NPPF 2024 Paragraph 96)

The planning system also supports a healthy food environment through the classification of Use Classes. This empowers local planning authorities to make specific policies to be applied when a planning application is needed.

 

Local Plans should be prepared with the objective of contributing to the achievement of sustainable development; be prepared positively, in a way that is aspirational but deliverable; and be shaped by early, proportionate and effective engagement and sound evidence. Policies need to be justified. Evidence to underpin policies can be taken from a wide variety of sources. Where food growers and providers have not engaged in local plan making, their valuable insight into the food system is reflected in the lack of food related issues being picked up.

Collaborative working across disciplines within and beyond the local authority area can support plan making. The planning policy options in this toolkit identify some of the potential partners.

Planners work with public health colleagues to identify priorities that can be addressed by the planning system. Many places have food partnerships and networks active in communities on issues such as food security and food growing.

Whereas many local authorities tackle access to food through crisis management, planning can help put in place longer term solutions.

It is the role of the Local Plan to provide a positive vision for the future of each area; a framework for meeting housing needs and addressing other economic, social and environmental priorities; and a platform for local people to shape their surroundings. The policies will help implement local priorities set out in corporate plans and strategies prepared by the Council and other services. Local Food Partnerships provide a forum for consultation and collaboration on local food strategies and policies and for agreeing collective action on them. Many councils have declared a ‘Climate and Ecological Emergency’ which is also relevant to creating a healthy food environment.

West Cheshire Food Partnership

West Cheshire Food Partnership is a member of the Sustainable Food Places network.

Their goal is to ensure that everyone in west Cheshire has access to affordable, healthy, sustainable and enjoyable food to make a decent meal. Their ‘Food for All’ vision and plan is published here: https://cwva.org.uk/west-cheshire-food-partnership/

Feeding Liverpool

Feeding Liverpool, a member of the Sustainable Food Places network, is the City of Liverpool’s food alliance. They are connecting and equipping people and organisations to work towards good food for all.

Liverpool’s Good Food Plan addresses key issues of food insecurity, access to and take-up of healthy, nutritious food, the food’s impact on the planet and food production practices. https://www.feedingliverpool.org/goodfoodplan/ 

There is support for local planning authorities to gather evidence to justify policies for health and wellbeing taking into account the food environment. Some examples are:

Evidence

Creating health and wellbeing: Evidence-led planning and design – QOLF

Food insecurity for every local authority in the UK

Obesity Profile presents the latest available data to help understand and monitor the patterns and trends in obesity at national, regional, and local levels in England.

Health challenges in urban areas

https://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/marmot-review-10-years-on/the-marmot-review-10-years-on-full-report.pdf

Further Information

Healthier Place, Healthier Future ‘Planning for Healthy Food Environments’ toolkit, produced as part of the Government’s childhood obesity trailblazer programme. The toolkit supports the creation of healthier communities through health-promoting planning policies. The resource is an aid for Developers, Urban Designers, Councillors, and Planners to consider collaborative ways in which to develop local infrastructures and environments to integrate accessible, affordable food and support healthier lifestyles. 

Campaigns run by TCPA, Sustain and PHE*  publicationshave sought to address the lack of awareness of the relevance of planning to achieving a good food system. https://www.tcpa.org.uk/areas-of-work/healthy-place-making/

* Public Health England (PHE) responsibilities have been transferred to Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID).

https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/

Obesity Health Alliance, Empowering Communities to Create Healthier Local Food Environments, (2024) chapter: Use Planning Policy to Build Healthier Communities OHA_EmpoweringCommunities_Final.pdf

Local planning authorities are already able to develop policies to support local strategies to improve health and wellbeing, but there is considerable variation in the extent to which they do so. London Borough of Camden is currently preparing its new Local Plan and sets a good example on how to address the food environment.

Case Study

Blackburn with Darwen

The Blackburn with Darwen Local Plan was adopted on the 25 January 2024. 

Their planning policies for a good food environment are underpinned by the Blackburn with Darwen Good Food Plan (2020) Other supporting documents are:

Blackburn with Darwen Joint Health and Well-being Strategy 2018-2021, Pennine Lancashire Healthier Place, Healthier Future Childhood Obesity Trailblazer Joint Planner Agreement (2021), Planning for Health Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), Eat Well Move More Shape Up Strategy (2022-25), BwD Good Food Plan (2020), Local Authority Declaration on Healthy Weight (2017), Walking and Cycling Plan (2021-24), Alcohol Strategy (2020-22).

Improving the physical and mental health and the well-being of residents, workers and visitors is a key strategic objective of the Local Plan.

Core Policy 3 (CP3): Health and Well-being

1. To help tackle health inequalities in the Borough, new development will be required to:
iv. Consider the local food environment, including access to local food shops and integration of community food growing;

DM Policy 1 (DM01): Health sets out the detailed criteria for determining hot food takeaway applications including development of a hybrid use incorporating hot food to takeaway.

Healthy Food Environments more generally are also covered by DM Policy 1:
Proposals for new development that will help contribute to a more sustainable, local food network (in terms of food production, distribution, procurement and waste management) will be strongly supported in principle.

Healthy Food Environments 

4.14 The Council strongly supports the principles of local food growing, distribution and procurement initiatives. Such enterprises strongly reflect all three tiers of sustainable communities (economic, social and environmental) and the Council will encourage and support proposals wherever possible.

Case Study

London Borough of Camden

Camden has one of the largest health inequality gaps in England and people suffering from poor health are generally concentrated in some of the borough’s most deprived wards.

We Make Camden is Camden Council’s corporate strategy which sets out six ambitions for the borough including:

“Camden communities support good health, wellbeing and connection for everyone so that they can start well, live well and age well.”

These ambitions are supported by four missions one of which is “Food”, giving food a priority to be addressed in the Local Plan.

“Food: By 2030, everyone eats well every day with nutritious, affordable, sustainable food.”

The draft Local Plan published in 2024 picks up these priorities through its strategic objective and lists the policies which they propose to guide development. There is a golden thread from the corporate plan through to decisions to be made on planning applications, and a healthy food environment is prominent.

Case Study

Calderdale

Calderdale Local Plan adopted March 2023

Policies for food and health are interwoven through the plan.

The chapter on Built Environment highlights the obesogenic environment as a design issue to be considered and follows this through into Policy BT1.

20.12 The ‘obesogenic environment’ refers to environments that contribute to obesity. The design of the built environment has a role to play in limiting these factors through, for example, ‘point-of-decision prompts’ such as encouraging stair use over lift use in buildings, the provision of ‘trip-end’ facilities, enhancing access to healthy food and encouraging easy access to open space and areas where communities may be physically active.

https://new.calderdale.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-12/Local-Plan-Written-Statement.pdf