Key stages in planning where health could feed in
Key stages in planning policy and development management processes where health considerations could feed in are highlighted in the Tables 1 and 2 below. A similar table highlighting key planning stages where environmental sustainability can feed in is included in the “How to engage with Planning?” environmental sustainability section.
It may be useful to organise some training events for selected public health staff to make them aware of opportunities to contribute to the development of planning policies and input on planning applications, and to share ideas on how health professionals could best work with both policy and development management planners.
“Early and meaningful engagement and collaboration with neighbourhoods, local organisations and businesses is essential.”
NPPF, 2012
Planners can identify who to contact in health to input on planning policy or to advise on health aspects of planning applications by viewing the contact details provided in the “Who to contact in health?” section.
It may be useful to develop a formal protocol between public health and planners to set out the objectives and priorities of engagement and clarify who will input on what, when and how. Without such an agreement there is a high risk that joint working will fail due to conflicting priorities or poor commitment and a lot of time will be wasted. For an example of a health planning protocol see the Bristol case study in the case studies section.