We are working with ten housing developments to shape the health of communities, and to rethink how health and care services can be delivered. This programme offers a golden opportunity to radically rethink how we live – and takes an ambitious look at improving health through the built environment.

In March 2016, following a rigorous selection process, we announced the ten demonstrator sites we’ll be working with.

In the NHS Five Year Forward View, a clear commitment was made to dramatically improve population health, and integrate health and care services, as new places are built and take shape. This commitment recognised the need to build over 200,000 more homes in England every year, and invited Expressions of Interest from developments across the country.

An impressive number and variety of partnerships came forward to the programme – ranging from smaller developments of under 1,000 homes to large scale projects of over 10,000 housing units. Over time, we look forward to connecting with this broad community of sites look to build health into the design of new and regenerated places.

Now, the Healthy New Towns programme will be working alongside our ten housing developments across the country to offer challenge, inspiration and support as they develop their ambitious plans for building healthy communities. Together, we’ll be looking at how sites can redesign local health and care services, and how they can take a cutting edge approach to improving their community’s health, wellbeing and independence.

Demonstrator sites

The ten Healthy New Towns demonstrator sites are:

• Whitehill and Bordon, Hampshire – 3,350 new homes on a former army barracks.
• Cranbrook, Devon – 8,000 new residential units.
• Darlington – 2,500 residential units across three linked sites in the Eastern Growth Zone.
• Barking Riverside – 10,800 residential units on London’s largest brownfield site.
• Whyndyke Farm in Fylde, Lancashire – 1,400 residential units.
• Halton Lea, Runcorn – 800 residential units.
• Bicester, Oxon – 393 houses in the Elmsbrook project, part of 13,000 new homes planned
• Northstowe, Cambridgeshire – 10,000 homes on former military land.
• Ebbsfleet Garden City, Kent – up to 15,000 new homes in the first garden city for 100 years
• Barton Park, Oxford – 885 residential units.

Further information

If you want to find out more, share ideas for our sites, or join the discussion, you can email us at england.healthynewtowns@nhs.net or follow #Healthynewtowns on Twitter.

Related links

• Press release announcing the ten Healthy New Town demonstrator sites
• Healthy New Towns prospectus (closed for applications in September 2015)