Countryside are supportive of the proposed approach to creating healthy new developments and have experience of working with the Council in this regard, including the preparation and submission of a Health Impact Assessment, as part of the Bourn Airfield proposals which have a resolution to grant planning permission. This experienced would be applied to the Fen Ditton proposals. It is however considered that additional flexibility should be added to the policy to reflect local circumstances. It is suggested that the wording of this policy is amended to state that ‘we will seek to integrate health considerations into policies across the Plan. This would require health principles to be applied to new developments wherever possible, drawing on the ten principles developed from the Healthy New Towns initiative as appropriate.’
The requirement for a Health Impact Assessment to be submitted with applications is also currently ambiguous. The proposed policy wording states that ‘Health Impact Assessments will be required to accompany planning applications (at a level of detail appropriate to the scale and nature of the application).’ It is suggested that further clarification should be provided within the wording of this policy as to what scale and nature of development would trigger what level of detail. This would minimise the risk of documents not covering the necessary detail expected by the Council. For example South Cambridgeshire Local Plan 2018 Policy SC/2 specifies that such a report is required for developments of 20 dwellings or more.
The proposed development at Fen Ditton would embody the aspiration for creating a healthy new development. The land at Fen Ditton provides the opportunity to create a happy and healthy community with infrastructure supporting community activity, health, education and quality of life. This would be achieved through the combination of a compact mixed-use urban structure, meeting daily needs within walking distance, and providing integrated green space which creates the conditions for people to lead healthy lives by encouraging ‘active travel’, reducing vehicular traffic, improving the public realm and enhancing social interaction. Countryside believe in landscape led masterplanning with the aim of creating a living landscape. Built in the right way, in the right place, new housing can make a positive contribution to nature and the people who live there. Countryside believe everyone has a right to natural space, and that this can provide ‘equigenesis’ – an equalising environment that uplifts everyone’s health and wellbeing.