Agenda item - HEALTH AND WELLBEING STRATEGY PROGRESS UPDATE

Agenda item

HEALTH AND WELLBEING STRATEGY PROGRESS UPDATE

The report of the Corporate Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) and accompanying presentation which sets out how to deliver public health and wellbeing in the borough, and specifically the need to organise a Public Health Summit and prepare a draft Public Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

Minutes:

The report of the Corporate Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) and accompanying presentation set out how the Council would deliver public health and wellbeing in the borough.

 

A Public Health Summit was planned for January 2019 as well as a draft Public Health and Wellbeing Strategy to provide both a corporate and borough wide approach to public health and wellbeing.

 

Members noted that:

 

      Local councils had a statutory duty to both improve public health (such as helping people quit smoking) and protect public health (for example, from environmental or biological threats such as food poisoning or radiation).  Whereas healthcare was primarily the domain of the NHS.

      The widely accepted Dahlgren-Whitehead rainbow model showed the many facets and subsequent determinants of public health from the individual (such as age and lifestyle), social and community networks (including the natural and built environment) as well as the wider socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions (such as transport, education and housing).

      The Summit would bring together key stakeholders (such as the County Council, Mental Health Teams, the Risk and Resilience Forum) to provide an evidence base for the next strategy.

      Subsequently, and as per Public Health England’s recommendation of wanting health to be looked at in all policies, the strategy would be overarching, with public health embedded into the key workings of the Council.

      The Council had set up numerous initiatives over the last four years which included Health Walks, a Healthy Eating scheme with local businesses, Health Fest as well as increased the air quality monitoring programme.

 

Members enquired as to the financial implications of strategy. Officers said that the Council currently received funding from the Hertfordshire Public Health Partnership and that there was potential for funding from Section 106 and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Again, the strategy would play a key part in securing funds in the future.

 

Members raised concerns about the number of high density developments of houses and flats being built in the borough without the further provision of green spaces to mitigate the development’s impact on public health. This was currently possible due to permitted development - where previous industrial areas or commercial buildings could be turned over to intensive residential development.

 

Members felt that as a Garden City it was imperative that there was not a return to the “Victorian” levels of dense development and that more weight was given to the impact of green space upon health and wellbeing.

 

Officers responded to say that an Environmental Health Officer had been placed within the Planning Team, again moving forward to public health in all policies and processes.The issue of permitted development however was outside of the planning team’s control.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(1)     That the Committee give delegated authority to the Head of Public Health and Protection in consultation with the Corporate Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) and the Portfolio Holder for Public Health and Governance in order to:

 

a.       Organise a Public Health Summit for the Borough of Welwyn Hatfield.

b.       Write the conclusions up into a refreshed draft of the Public Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

c.       Carry out a consultation exercise with relevant stakeholders including residents.

 

(2)     That the draft strategy and the consultation responses be brought back to the Committee for consideration prior to being sent to Cabinet for recommendation to Full Council for adoption. 

 

(3)     That the Leader of the Council write again to the Government about the issue of permitted development which allowed a change of use that was not in the favour of the health of the residents of the Borough.

 

(4)     That Officers of the Planning Team also write to the Government about the aforementioned issue in (3).

Supporting documents: