Today in Parliament, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for New Towns hosted its second roundtable event. The event "Healthy New Towns" was chaired by Telford’s MP, Lucy Allan and was attended by health professionals from NHS England, local authorities, planners, councillors and clinical commissioning groups and New Town MPs from all parties. The Shadow Housing minister also attended.
The panel led discussion focused on the health challenges affecting New Towns, such as high obesity and mortality rates and the way new town planning and design often created health and well being challenges.
The roundtable also focused on improving health and wellbeing of New Town residents.
Speaking following the event, Lucy Allan said:
“I was delighted by the enthusiastic response that this initiative has had. We had a fantastic attendance from new towns across the country, all facing and tackling similar challenges.
“Health outcomes in Telford across a range of indicators are poor. We need to learn from each other to tackle environmental, economic and social challenges facing 'old' New Towns and to ensure that lessons are learned. Its about planning, peacemaking and improving the local economy and strengthening the community.
“As a cross party group, we can present these challenges to government to ensure that New Towns remain centre stage when it comes to policy making. We want to ensure that these challenges are recognised and necessary support for infrastructure, skills and access to healthcare is forthcoming.”