Guidance

Health Impact Assessment in spatial planning

This guide is for local authority public health and planning teams and supports the use of Health Impact Assessment in the spatial planning process.

Documents

Health Impact Assessment in spatial planning: a guide for local authority public health and planning teams

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Research on Health Impact Assessments in planning practice in England: executive summary

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Details

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a tool to identify and optimise the health and wellbeing impacts of planning. This guide supports the use of HIA in the process of plan making (when developing policies in local plans) and planning applications (designing proposals for development projects).

This guide provides information about:

  • HIA in planning policy and practice
  • developing local HIA policy and guidance
  • determining whether an HIA is required
  • establishing the scope of an HIA
  • integrating an HIA with other assessments

The guide was informed by the University of Liverpool Health Impact Assessment in Town Planning: Research Report on Practice in England.

An executive summary of the full research report is also provided.

Relevant links:

Spatial planning for health: evidence review

Spatial planning and health: Getting Research into Practice (GRIP)

PHE Healthy Places

Updates to this page

Published 26 October 2020

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