New Food Policy & Planning toolkit launched

A new digital toolkit was recently launched by Health Equalities Group to support local policy makers and planners consider how the local plan making process and additional planning policy tools can create healthier food environments for communities across Cheshire & Merseyside.

The ‘Food Policy & Planning Toolkit’, co-produced with Sustain and council partners from within the sub-region, hosts a wealth of information for public health teams and local authority planners to consider in shaping healthier places. The ability to access healthier food is a social issue as well as a public health issue; policies adopted by local authorities to create healthier food environments can contribute to a number of strategic objectives and areas of the councils’ work, and through collaboration and cross boundary working, develop a strategic vision for the sub-region.  The launch of the toolkit is timely in light of the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in considering the opportunities to draw on the legislative and regulatory provisions of the planning system, to create healthy places.

The development of the toolkit has been an output from the Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance (CMCA) Strategic Obesity Project established to develop a ‘hub’ of connectivity, bringing together system leaders and stakeholders, including non-health stakeholders such as planning, housing, transport, employers and charity/voluntary sector organisations, to increase the overall volume and reach of preventative actions to reduce prevalence of overweight and obesity.

Why focus on planning levers?

There is a growing body of evidence that illustrates some of the many negative impacts of the food system on climate and health. The recent House of Lords: Food, Diet and Obesity Committee Report claims our current food system is in fact broken, with an overreliance on unhealthy, often highly processed foods now widely accessible that are heavily marketed and often cheaper than healthier alternatives[1].

The recent Food Foundation Broken Plate Report also demonstrates that healthier foods are more than twice as expensive per calorie than less healthy foods and less available and a quarter of places to buy food in England are fast-food outlets[2].

Recent analysis has found that the cost of Britain’s unhealthy food system amounts to £268 billion every year, as reported by The Food Farming and Countryside Commission. The False Economy of Big Food Report makes a number of recommendations including a regulatory environment which addresses a food system currently supplying large amounts of ultra-processed foods, to better promote dietary health and halt the rise of chronic disease[3].

Drawing on local policy levers, the planning process can help to create healthier spaces for communities. The NPPF suggests that planning policies and decisions should aim to achieve healthy, inclusive and safe places which:

…enable and support healthy lives, through both promoting good health and preventing ill-health, especially where this would address identified local health and well-being needs and reduce health inequalities between the most and least deprived communities – for example through the provision of safe and accessible green infrastructure, sports facilities, local shops, access to healthier food, allotments and layouts that encourage walking and cycling. (NPPF 2024 Paragraph 96)

The digital toolkit has a specific focus on the powers within our control to prioritise healthier food within our neighbourhoods, whilst connecting food growers, producers, and consumers (from ‘field to fork’). Supportive planning policies can improve well-being, create inclusive communities, address climate change, encourage economic development, whilst supporting productive land use and good urban design.

How to use the toolkit

The new digital resource was launched by Health Equalities Group via a webinar on 17^th March, with contributions  from the Quality of Life Foundation, OHID North West, and case studies presented by planning and public health colleagues from Cheshire East Council, Knowsley Council and Sefton Council.  The toolkit is free to access and presents a suite of planning policy tools and options that can be used to develop a strong local policy framework that, once embedded, can enable planning and public health officers to make decisions on planning to ensure the best outcomes for the food system. The toolkit is also supported by case studies from both within Cheshire and Merseyside and further afield and identifies potential partners to engage with to achieve change on the ground. The digital nature of the resource enables users to navigate to those policy tools and options relevant to local priorities and respond to local needs.

The toolkit can be accessed at: https://food-policy-planning.org.uk/

The toolkit will be reviewed and updated to take account of further changes to the National Planning Policy Framework and to continue to promote best practice. To share any feedback on the toolkit please contact: nicola.calder@heg.org.uk

[1] Recipe for health: a plan to fix our broken food system

[2] The Broken Plate 2025

^[3] The False Economy of Big Food