Healthy places
Key priorityOur ambition
The physical and social infrastructure and environment supports people of all ages who live, work or study in Kirklees to maximise their health opportunities and to make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Why this is important
Built and natural environments impact on our health and wellbeing across our lives, influencing our physical and mental health. Physical and social environments that nurture good health can help to reduce health inequalities.
Access:
Having access to open spaces, places for leisure, recreation and play, employment, education, services and goods, including healthy food options can support health and wellbeing and help reduce health inequalities.
Environmental factors:
People living in areas of greater deprivation are more likely to be exposed to harmful environmental factors, such as poor air quality, and less likely to have access to beneficial ones, such as green space.
Green spaces:
People living closer to green spaces are likely to be more physically active than those who do not. Green spaces support neighbourhood connectivity and social networks.
Physical activity:
Just over half of adults and just over one-third of children and young people in Kirklees are meeting their recommended minutes of activity per week, with residents living in the least deprived areas most likely to be achieving this. Active travel, such as walking and cycling, offers an important source of physical activity and a sustainable means of transport. Nearly two thirds of residents regularly walk as a means of getting around, but only 7% regularly cycle.
Pollution:
Noise pollution is associated with poorer mental wellbeing and greater levels of stress, while air pollution in the UK is estimated to have an annual effect equivalent to 28 to 36,000 deaths.
Sustainability:
Good quality housing is associated with improved physical and mental health.
5% of residents have no access to the internet at home, leaving them digitally excluded and unable to engage with education, work and services.
We will:
- Work with partners to ensure quality planning, design, construction and management of spaces, places and homes.
- Facilitate development and implement local plans that respects and creates safe and attractive places, thriving, cohesive communities and supports health and wellbeing for those that live, work or study in Kirklees.
- Develop and maintain a range of spaces and infrastructure that are safe and encourage all forms of physical activity and movement and support positive emotional wellbeing.
- Work with local communities to enable people to travel safely and actively to and from where they study, work and spend time.
- Implement identified measures which improve air quality and pollution.
- Work with communities to understand their local needs and offer a variety of opportunities to access physical activity, recreation, connection and culture and heritage activities.
- Support our communities to gain access to the internet from their homes.
You can:
- Identify local issues and opportunities and instigate change drawing support and action from Kirklees partners as required.
- Actively participate in engagement activities to ensure their voices are heard.
- Walk or cycle for short journeys, eg to school, and utilise public transport combinations for longer journeys.
- Be active members of their local communities and respect and protect their local assets and green spaces.
- Support measures that reduce pollution and improve air quality.
- Access places and green spaces that support wellbeing and physical health.
- I would like safe accessible local places where I can meet friends and we can do activities together regardless of our age and abilities.
- I would like to access affordable activities that I can do with my children that help us to be physically and mentally fit.
- I would like my local area to be disability friendly, making sure we are all included regardless of our abilities and needs.
- I would like green, natural, outdoor spaces in my local area that help me to be active and support my wellbeing.
- Overall satisfaction with local area (shared outcome headline indicator)
- Air quality/pollution (annual concentration of PM2.5) (shared outcome headline indicator)
- CO2 emissions (shared outcome headline indicator)
- Proportion of adults who say they feel safe in their local area (shared outcome headline indicator)
- Increase in journeys taken on foot or by cycling
- Housing suitability for household (shared outcome headline indicator)
- Use of parks and greenspaces
- Increase access to the internet at home
- Increase in Kirklees children and adults meeting recommended activity levels per week
- Increase in schools implementing the Active Schools Framework
- Safer Communities
- Housing Strategy
- Local Plan
- Everybody Active Strategy
- Walking and Cycling Framework
- Air Quality Strategy
- Culture & Heritage Strategies
- West Yorkshire and Kirklees Transport Strategies
- Playable Spaces Strategy
