By Public Affairs and Policy Officer Emma Giaretto<\/b><\/p>\n
In the Healthy High Streets <\/em>strategy published in January 2018, Public Health England defined them as \u2018an asset that promotes and improves the health of local residents and of the wider local community\u2019. This definition demonstrates the potential high streets and their components have to improve our health. For this reason, ensuring our high streets are designed in a way that promotes physical activity is now of paramount importance.<\/p>\n A city centre without an availability of healthy nutrition options and active services such as gyms can have a dreadful impact on a local community\u2019s health. Especially in areas with high deprivation, there has been a rise in \u2018clone towns\u2019 where small and independent businesses are undermined by a proliferation of big chain stories, betting shops, and fast food outlets.<\/p>\n At the moment, planning regulations make it easier to open takeaways and betting shops than leisure centres, gyms or boutique fitness studios. Under England\u2019s National Planning Policy Framework, gyms and leisure centres can only occupy buildings designated under the \u2018Class D2\u2019 category \u2013 whereas retail outlets sit in the far more abundant \u2018Class A1\u2019 category of building \u2013 leading many operators feeling \u2018shut-out\u2019 from the high street. Additionally, changing the category of a building is a lengthy, time taking and often unsuccessful process that results in a number of spaces left empty despite physical activity providers queueing to occupy them.<\/p>\n A central theme of Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson\u2019s keynote at ukactive\u2019s SWEAT conference, ukactive has called for a radical overhaul of planning regulations to make it easier for fitness businesses to have a positive health impact on England\u2019s unhealthy high streets, which she said are \u201cdrowning in a sea of betting shops, fried chicken joints and empty shop windows.\u201d.<\/p>\n Adding flexibility to planning regulations and making the process of changing the category of a building from A1 to D2 an easier process, would allow physical activity businesses to add vibrancy and life to the highstreets and would enable them to have a positive impact on the health of the community.<\/p>\n