NHS chief executive Simon Stevens announced the scheme on March 1 which aims to ensure new estates in the 10 areas chosen (Whitehill and Bordon, Cranbrook in Devon, Darlington in County Durham, Barking Riverside in Essex, Fylde in Lancashire, Halton Lea in Cheshire, Bicester in Oxfordshire, Northstowe in Cambridgeshire, Ebbsfleet in Kent and Barton Park in Oxford) are built to help residents live longer, healthier lives.
Whitehill and Bordon - where 3,350 homes will be built by 2036 - topped the list as one of England’s 10 planned “healthy new towns”, where measures will be put in place to stave off conditions like obesity and dementia, as part of the pioneering NHS scheme.
“Healthy” measures are set to include: takeaway outlets near schools being banned; signs to encourage the public to walk rather than drive, and pavements with anti-trip surfaces.
Experts will advise the district council and its partners on creating a town which is as healthy as possible.
The scheme will help planners and developers to work together to create the best health facilities for the town; to speed up the time it takes to build new health facilities and, possibly, to secure funding for partners.
The district council and the Whitehill and Bordon Regeneration Company are already planning to create a health campus, as part of the transformation of Prince Philip Barracks, where facilities hoped for include GPs, nurses, therapists, hospital consultants and pharmacists.
For full story, see this week’s Bordon Herald.