Green Is Only Half The Picture: Healthy New Towns

This Story Map compares the communities of Barton Park and Elmsbrook, two ‘demonstrator sites’ of the Healthy New Towns programme, with the aim of surveying what has been achieved and what could be improved in these communities. The Healthy New Towns programme was launched in 2015 by NHS England to investigate how new developments could be designed to encourage healthy behaviours and happier communities.

Summary of Healthy New Towns

Barton Park is a 885-home extension of Barton and Elmsbrook is located in North West Bicester, also consisting of several hundred residences. These Healthy New Towns were envisioned as a means to revolutionise town planning by prioritising mental and physical health. In Oxfordshire, 300,000 adults have been recorded as being either obese or overweight. Obesity alone costs the county £427,000,000 every year. Mental health issues are an even higher burden on the county, amounting to £1,300,000,000 per year (Schüder, 2021).

An important component of the programme is the open availability of green and blue spaces for residents, and hence a large part of the fieldwork was focused on recording these places and observing their features to determine how effectively they contribute to healthy behaviours.

Green Spaces in Barton Park and Elmsbrook

Both Barton Park and Elmsbrook host a wide and diverse range of green and blue spaces for residents. The ample coverage of green infrastructure, defined as 'multi-functional green space' capable of improving the quality of life of residents of local communities, is critical to the objectives of Healthy New Towns (National Planning Policy Framework, 2021).

Access to green spaces and nature is certainly something which must be improved in Oxfordshire. A recent report showed that none of the residences in Oxfordshire meet all the Accessible Natural Greenspace Standards (ANGSt). Even worse, 14% of residences meet none of these standards (Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre, 2017). Therefore, it was welcome to see that both Barton Park and Elmsbrook have integrated green spaces throughout the built environment.

During our fieldwork, we observed parks, streams, woodland, exercise equipment, community gardens, seating areas and a range of other examples of green infrastructure designed to promote the physical activity of residents. Figures 1-10 reveal a sample of the green and blue spaces we came across.

The following maps detail the locations of green spaces that we came across in both communities. Note: this is NOT a comprehensive map of all green spaces in the local area.

Figure 11 shows that the majority of green spaces in Barton Park are distributed along the northern edge of the community, along with a large allotment area in the south east. By contrast, in Elmsbrook green spaces are integrated more naturally into residential communities, with community gardening plots interspersed between houses. This perhaps explains why the plots in Elmsbrook appeared to be more regularly used than those in Barton Park.

Overall, the difference in the spatial distribution of green spaces between the two communities indicates Elmsbrook to be the more effective utiliser of green infrastructure. The rigid division between Barton Park's linear park and its residences gave us an impression of artificiality, while homes in Elmsbrook seemed to fit in with the surroundings. These findings have potential implications for future 'green' developments, suggesting that green spaces should be positioned among, rather than alongside, residential sections, in order to maximise their usage.

Qualities and Accessibility of Green Spaces

Ultimately, being green is only half the picture, and where Barton Park and Elmsbrook also differ is in the quality of their green spaces, which research has shown has an impact on visitation frequency and health benefits (Nguyen, Astell-Burt, Rahimi-Ardabili and Feng, 2021). In general, the qualities of green spaces in Elmsbrook were superior to those in Barton Park.

A Comparison with Elmsbrook

Like Barton Park, Elmsbrook's green spaces were easily accessible to the community, with green spaces located in each of the four phases of the new development.

Nevertheless, we observed several noticeable improvements in the qualities of green spaces in Elmsbrook compared to Barton Park. Generally, these spaces were cleaner and more inclusive. Furthermore, they were embedded into the residential infrastructure, which not only increased their accessibility but also made them appear safer.

There was also noticeably less traffic noise than in Barton Park, although this may change in the future as the development is expanded.

Social Infrastructure, Agency and Green Places

However, what was glaringly apparent across both communities was the lack of supportive social infrastructure, particularly food shops. This undermines the stated multifunctional nature of green spaces, as places where people can enjoy a locally-bought cup of tea or platter of sandwiches. Not only would the presence of local retail businesses augment the quality of green spaces, but also contribute to principle 6 of healthy-place making which references healthy eating, a key component of which is the availability of healthy food options (NHS England, the TCPA, The King’s Fund, The Young Foundation, Public Health England and PA Consulting, 2019).

Nevertheless, here Elmsbrook also has the advantage. A local centre is currently being built, dedicated to local businesses and the community (Figure 16). Furthermore, in the interim, Perch Eco Business Centre does host community events involving drinks and snacks. Elmsbrook also has several active Facebook groups, such as 'Elmsbrook Bicester Residents' and 'Elmsbrook Community Organisation', to promote community events, contrary to Barton Park. This shows the agency of individuals in forging social infrastructure where none existed previously.

Summary and Recommendations

Both the communities of Barton Park and Elmsbrook are impressive models of how urban development can be directed to promoting healthy behaviours among residents. The sheer availability of green spaces in these areas is certain to improve rates of physical activity and reduce social isolation.

However, green spaces tended to be of higher quality in Elmsbrook than in Barton Park. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11, target 7, calls for 'inclusive and accessible' green spaces, 'in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities' (United Nations, 2015). In general, the Elmsbrook development is designed in closer accordance to this ideal. Spaces are more inclusive, safe and integrated into residential localities.

This matters because the existence of green spaces alone does not alone guarantee that they will significantly improve health outcomes among the population. Perception also matters. Therefore, the key recommendations that emerged from our fieldwork are:

• Planners must ensure that green spaces are integrated effectively among residences and build social infrastructure nearby to increase their use.
• The inclusivity and safety of green spaces should also be top priorities, which includes making them accessible for those with disabilities, adequate protection from risks like water submersion and electrocution, and clear visibility.

As a side note, it is worth noting that on both sites there needs to be more green and blue spaces tailored to adolescents, such as skateparks and swimming pools. This is essential to preventing boredom.

With some luck, the principles of healthy new towns will be incorporated into national planning frameworks in the future, to ensure that everyone has access to a healthy lifestyle.

References:

Barlow, P., Lyons, S. and Nolan, A. (2021). How Perceived Adequacy of Open Public Space Is Related to Objective Green Space and Individuals’ Opinions of Area-Level Quality, Sustainability, 13(15). Available at:  Sustainability | Free Full-Text | How Perceived Adequacy of Open Public Space Is Related to Objective Green Space and Individuals’ Opinions of Area-Level Quality (mdpi.com) 

Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (2021). National Planning Policy Framework, The National Archives. Available at:  [ARCHIVED CONTENT] (nationalarchives.gov.uk) 

Nguyen, P., Astell-Burt, T., Rahimi-Ardabili H., and Feng X. (2021). Green Space Quality and Health: A Systematic Review, Int J Environ Res Public Health, 18/21. Available at:  Green Space Quality and Health: A Systematic Review - PMC (nih.gov) 

NHS England, the TCPA, The King’s Fund, The Young Foundation, Public Health England and PA Consulting (2019). Putting Health into Place: Principles 4-8, NHS England. Available at:  Design, deliver and manage (england.nhs.uk) 

Schüder, I. (2021). Making the case for investment in Green Infrastructure in Oxfordshire Policymaker summary, Oxfordshire County Council. Available at:  Layout 1 (oxfordshire.gov.uk) 

Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (2017). An Analysis of Accessible Green Space Provision in Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire County Council. Available at:  untitled (oxfordshire.gov.uk) 

United Nations General Assembly (2015). Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, United Nations. Available at:  https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_RES_70_1_E.pdf