Nice recommends planning changes

I was delighted to read in The Guardian last week that town planners and architects were told to give pedestrians and cyclists priority over cars in towns, and to design staircases that make people want to use them. Indeed so delighted I forwarded the article direct to the Planning Department that are no doubt aware of it....

At last there are the beginnings of some joined-up thinking - the Green party has for years seen health linked to all other policies like nuclear power, pesticides and transport - here is a glimmer of hope that others are waking up.....The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has departed from its usual remit of advising on NHS treatments to produce guidance on the built environment with regard to health.

The organisation is urging local authorities to crack down on vehicle use, by such means as charging and traffic calming. The guidance was commissioned by the Department of Health, motivated by the obesity, cancers and heart disease that can accompany the sedentary lifestyle.

The Guardian quotes Mike Kelly, director of Nice's centre for public health excellence, saying that inactivity was estimated to cost roughly £8.2bn a year. Sadly Nice guidance is not binding on town planners, but apparently talks have begun with groups that can encourage implementation, and studies have shown there would be considerable savings to the NHS if people were encouraged to walk and cycle. They recommend for example that new offices be linked to walking and cycling networks - something Greens have called for for years.

Phillip Insall, director of Sustrans' Active Travel programme, is a member of the guidance committee. He is also quoted in The Guardian saying that while in Basel, Switzerland, only a quarter of trips in the city were by car “ in a UK city of the same size it is probably two-thirds”.