Stakeholders come together for Healthy Placemaking Event

Planning towards a healthier county with active environments.

Last month, Active Kent & Medway, with support from Town and Country Planning Association, coordinated an in-person event at The Orchards Event Centre, East Malling, to bring together stakeholders who have an interest in healthy placemaking and active environments.

“Planning shapes the places in which people live, and so shapes their ability to live healthy lives.”

Over 50 attendees from local government, planning, transport, active travel and public health came together to hear from key partners who shared insight, experiences and recommendations for active design and active environments at a local and national level.

The event kicked off with a welcome from Liz Davidson, our Active Partnership Director and an introduction to the county’s Move Together strategy for sport and physical activity. Attendees then had a chance to hear from a range of speakers including Claire Pamberi, Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Manager and Paul Clarke, Public Health Specialist from Kent County Council; Gemma Hyde, Project and Policy Officer at Town and Country Planning Association; Nick Evans, Head of Planning at Sport England; Simon Harrison, Head of Design at Ebbsfleet Development Corporation; and Owen Reading, Associate Urban Designer at David Lock Associates. Attendees also took part in an interactive exercise and roundtable discussions.

Afterwards, attendees had the opportunity to provide feedback, with 80% saying it was a ‘very useful event’. They also told us that there was ‘a good range of professional speakers covering a wide range of examples’ and they ‘enjoyed the opportunity to network in-person’. Some suggested improvements included more interactive discussions, more opportunities to feedback and more involvement from health partners.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the speakers and the attendees for making the event such a great success. Sophie Ward, our Active Environments Lead at Active Kent & Medway said,

 “We were delighted to have such a diverse turn out of attendees from across Kent and Medway, representing planning, transport, active travel, public health and physical activity. We will continue to listen and learn about the challenges faced around Healthy Placemaking to ensure we can facilitate the most appropriate approach to move this agenda forward and keep the conversation going. Ultimately working towards, getting more people more active more often and creating a healthier Kent and Medway.”

If you would like to join in the conversation, please contact Sophie Ward at sophie.ward@kent.gov.uk.