The Healthy Places and Communities partnership welcomes new member and launches practical guide

A partnership designed to help residents live healthier and more active lives has expanded, with the launch of a new practical guide for social landlords.

The Healthy Places and Communities Partnership – made up of housing providers Amplius, bpha and Peabody alongside the shared Public Health service for Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes, BeActive Bedfordshire and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) – has welcomed the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) as its newest member.

The partnership is also helping deliver Sport England's 'Place Universal Offer' across Bedfordshire, which connects housing and health with physical activity to tackle inequalities in communities.

Alongside the news of TCPA joining, the partnership has published Beyond the Front Door, a resource supporting landlords to think creatively, and together with residents, about making the most of the neighbourhood, as well as the homes they manage, to support health and wellbeing.

The guide focuses on the role social landlords play as place shapers, and provides a framework for thinking about how spaces can help people manage everyday costs, support health and wellbeing, support family life, and encourage social connection and a sense of belonging.

It sets out some positive ways forward, including:

• Working with residents to cultivate community gardens, as places for growing food and/or safe play
• Using shared or semi-private spaces as informal meeting spaces
• Providing sheltered seating on routes around the neighbourhood to encourage physical activity and opportunities to meet neighbours.

Sarah Davis, policy manager at CIH, said: “CIH has worked with TCPA on multiple occasions, particularly supporting on the healthy homes principles. We look forward to working with them in the context of this partnership that highlights the significant impact of social landlords on the wider wellbeing of local areas and communities.

“The expertise of the TCPA will add to the support we can provide for members and the examples that we hope will be taken up across many other communities. Beyond the Front Door is the first example of this, helping social landlords to consider how they might support community wellbeing outside the physical home itself, looking at everything from cost management to building a sense of pride in a neighbourhood.”

Liz Parsons, Director of Community Investment at Amplius, said: “We're delighted to welcome the TCPA to the partnership. Their expertise in healthy placemaking will strengthen our work and help us explore how housing providers can use policy and practice to create healthier, more active places. We're already working together on a series of practical guides and are looking forward to building on that through the partnership.”

Gemma Hyde, Projects and Policy Manager at the TCPA, said: “Where people live has a profound influence on their opportunities to be healthy and active. Housing providers have an important role to play, not just through the homes they provide but through the neighbourhoods, spaces and partnerships they help shape.

“We're really pleased to join the Healthy Places and Communities Partnership and to bring our healthy placemaking and long-term stewardship expertise into a collaboration that is focused on turning that understanding into practical action for communities.”