The NPPF puts wellbeing at the heart of planning policy. Here's how Saluura evidences it.

The updated NPPF makes healthy communities a core planning requirement, not an afterthought. Saluura translates this ambition into measurable evidence — starting with the 800-metre neighbourhood beyond the site boundary.

A shift in planning priorities

The updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sends a clear message: planning is not just about delivering development. It is about creating places that help people live healthier and sustainable lives.

The Promoting Healthy Communities (HC1-8) section places health and wellbeing firmly at the centre of planning policy, recognising that the design and management of places can have a profound impact on physical activity, mental health, social interaction and quality of life.

Where Saluura fits in

This is where Saluura can help. Saluura is an evidence-based framework for appraising, designing, delivering and managing places that support wellness. It starts from a simple premise: people's wellbeing is influenced not only by the buildings they occupy, but by the wider neighbourhood they experience every day.

Looking beyond the site boundary

Saluura assesses 128 wellness characteristics of a place and the 800-metre walkable catchment surrounding it. The NPPF identifies 800 metres as a reasonable walking distance, reflecting the importance of creating walkable neighbourhoods and sustainable communities.

Looking beyond a site's boundary provides a much more holistic understanding of place quality. It allows us to assess whether people have access to key wellness-promoting infrastructure, identify gaps and ensure the new development fills these gaps.

These are the factors that often have the greatest influence on wellbeing, yet they can be overlooked when assessments focus solely on a development site itself.

The wider determinants of health

The NPPF recognises the importance of these wider determinants of health. A good example is Policy HC5, which requires planning permission for hot food takeaways to be refused within a short walking distance of schools and other places where children and young people congregate (unless located within a designated town centre), and where concentrations of takeaways are having an adverse impact on health, pollution or anti-social behaviour.

Saluura's comprehensive wellness appraisal framework evaluates access to healthy and less healthy food options.

From ambition to measurable outcomes

Planning policy is increasingly concerned not only with what is built, but with how local environments influence behaviour and long-term health outcomes.For developers, masterplanners, place-shaping professionals and local authorities, the challenge is no longer understanding what a healthy place looks like.

By assessing the wider 800-metre wider neighbourhood, Saluura helps translate the ambitions of the NPPF's Promoting Healthy Communities policies into measurable evidence, practical interventions and better outcomes for people and places.

Healthy communities are created by the wider places people can reach, experience and enjoy every day.

About Saluura

Saluura is a place-based wellness appraisal, design and delivery framework, helping developers, investors, local authorities and regeneration projects create healthier, more liveable places. Get in touch at more@saluura.com or visit saluura.com.