Streets Ahead: building health on the high street.

The high street is a British institution. This report examines the steps required to ensure that high streets not only thrive but also support the local community in doing the same.

Visited by millions of people every day, high streets have played a role in our lives for centuries and are the heartbeat of our cities and towns. They are where people work, shop, and socialise, making the high street the perfect place to promote healthier behaviours.

Over the decade since the RSPH published Health on the High Street (available below), there has been no shortage of initiatives and schemes to revive our high streets, but we still aren’t seeing them become the drivers of health and well-being that they should be. There is a clear need to regenerate high streets so that they meet the needs of today’s society.

Streets Ahead Report.pdf

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This report brings together the expertise of the public health, planning, and business communities to set out a roadmap for every local authority to put in place the facilities and services which are needed to ensure that their high streets not only thrive, but support the local population to do the same.

“High streets are the lifeblood of communities – they are at the heart of neighbourhoods, and can have a huge impact on our wellbeing.”

“High streets have moved away from being retail-only places. They are now spaces where communities can meet and spend time together, where people share experiences and have fun. “

Key findings:

• 49% of people in the UK do not have access to green spaces where they can exercise or rest in their high streets.

• 42% told us they do not have good transport links.

• Existing grants and systems aiming at supporting high streets and local authorities are fragmented and short-term.

• There are essential building blocks that support our high streets to become healthier, among them community empowerment and supportive work.

• There are several projects that used one of these building blocks and positively impacted the health of their high street.

"For far too long we have allowed a gradual decline of our high streets to continue. Instead of the bustling hubs of community they once were, we have become far too used boarded up shops and our high streets lined with businesses that perpetuate ill health.

We can do better. We want everyone in this country to feel that their local high street is good for their health and to be proud of their local areas. People want to be healthy and the places they spend time in need to support them to make healthier choices.

For us, healthy places includes healthy high streets. We need to be ambitious for our high streets and that ambition to be backed by action. This landmark new report sets out a roadmap for change at a national and local level." - William Roberts, RSPH Chief Executive.

Recommendations:

• Local authorities should publish high street action plans with a point of contact to implement the Healthy High Streets Framework.

• The government should legislate for a statutory duty on other bodies to cooperate with local authorities in creating healthy high streets

• Developers should consider health outcomes as well as economic outcomes when putting together proposals for regeneration.

• Businesses and the government should consider offering further training and support for staff working on the high street.

• The government should equalise the tax burden between in-person and remote retailers, using the dividends from this to fund improvements to our high streets.

  
  

What is a healthy high street?

RSPH analysis shows that a healthy high street is a place where all the building blocks for better health outcomes are present. This includes community empowerment, transport links, inclusive design, safety, good quality retail, social spaces, health services, healthy food, green spaces, and supportive work.

“Local authorities should publish high street action plans, setting out a named individual or role who will lead on combining existing schemes and funding mechanisms to implement the Healthy High Streets framework.”

How can we improve the health on the high street?

Implementation of the building blocks

RSPH research demonstrates that the 10 building blocks of a healthy high street, which are community empowerment, transport links, inclusive design, safety, good quality retail, social spaces, health services, healthy food, green spaces, and supportive work, can positively influence the health of people who visit high streets. Implementing these building blocks will help communities thrive.

Less fragmentation

Most of the support available to high streets is inconsistent and short-term. Grants and other types of funding are patchy and do not encourage long-term vision. Also, institutional leadership can be multiple, and the messaging can be unclear.  A less fragmented system with strong leadership, clear institutional responsibility, and long-term funding could help improve the health on the high street.

Streets Ahead, Building a Healthy High Street written by - Fernanda Aguilar Perez PhD Doctor in Int'l Relations & Global Health. Senior Policy and Research Advisor at the Royal Society for Public Health.