Public health news: Social determinants of health
The conditions in which we are born, live, work and age all influence our health and wellbeing.
Public health news: March 2024
The South Tyneside Draft Local Plan (2023 - 2040) highlights how the ''relocation of South Tyneside College to a flagship new town centre campus will complement the range of services and activities including shops, businesses, homes, heritage, cultural and tourism facilities and enhanced public spaces which support the vitality of the area".
This is good news, but we know that for some people access to any public building or open space can be really challenging.
In the GOV.UK: National Design Guide it states that ''In well-designed places, streets are public spaces that are open to all".
"They encourage people to walk and cycle rather than to depend upon cars, particularly for short, local journeys. They are accessible to all and designed to meet the needs of their most vulnerable users''.
Drawing on work from across the UK, we plan to co-produce an accessibility checklist, then undertake an agreed number of accessibility audits with people with a range of lived experience.
This will provide valuable insight before and after these town centre developments take place and provide a process to undertake similar audits across the borough in the future.
As these accessibility audits develop, further insight and learning will be shared.