Law and Local Government

• To strengthen legal capacity for health at local government level.
• To identify routes for the promotion of the value of health in the decision-making of private developers.
• To promote understanding and assist advocacy efforts to improve the legal determinants of health in urban development.

We will co-produce authoritative materials to improve the understanding and use of law to promote the value of health, with a focus on health promotion and prevention of NCDs. The materials will be developed within two bodies of work.

These will apply first to local planning policies and decision-making in Local Planning Authorities (LPAs), as well as the decision-making of private developers. This part of the work will lead to the creation and dissemination of freely-accessible training materials to promote, through law, the better and wider use and application of health impact assessments.

Secondly, we will create materials focused on the overall legal context, identifying areas where legal reform would better serve the generation of healthy urban environments. This will lead to a co-produced, publicly-accessible report on the legal determinants of health. The report will be designed to inform public discourse and debate, and to assist advocacy efforts for legal reform.

Law, Health and Planning: Using Health Impact Assessments to improve urban health

Professor John Coggon at the University of Bristol

Dr Ed Kirton-Darling at University of Bristol