Health Impact Assessments

A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is used to evaluate the impacts a proposed development may have on the health and wellbeing of different groups of people.

The findings of HIAs are used to recommend to decision makers on schemes as to how;

• positive health impacts may be increased
• negative impacts reduced.

When is a HIA required?

Policy DC3 of the Darlington Borough Local Plan 2016 – 2036 requires;

• in the case of development of 150 or more homes
• all other non-residential major development

the submission of a Health Impact Assessment as part of the application. It is to explain how health regards have informed the design.

Guidance Documents

Our guidance is divided into three parts:

1. Development Guidance Note
2. Comprehensive Health Impact Assessment Tool
3. Ward Level Health Themes Table

The Development Guidance Note [pdf document] contains further detail on what a HIA is. It covers the principles that should be applied when creating one. It also suggests on best practice guidance that can be used to improve the health and wellbeing outcomes of a development.

The Comprehensive Health impact Assessment Tool [pdf document]. This provides a pdf matrix that can be used as the basis for creating a HIA to submit with a planning application for a major development.

The Ward Level Health Themes Table [pdf document] has been produced by the Public Health Team. It provides an overview of health and wellbeing priorities in Darlington’s council wards. This can be used to focus HIAs on certain issues, but should not be used to screen out lesser health and wellbeing issues.

Officers were recently invited to contribute to a series of short films to talk about the benefits of the HIA process.  They featured a range of planning and public health professionals. The films were produced by the University of Bristol for TRUUD (Tackling Root Causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development).