Case studies

Sheffield has one of the largest district energy networks in the UK, feeding leisure facilities, council buildings, universities and homes.

In Cumbria, integrated care consortia have had “hard” budgets distributed to six localities since April. There are six GP consortia or localities, each covering roughly 100,000 residents, aligned with District Council boundaries.

Manchester has some of the most challenging health problems in the country. Life expectancy is amongst the lowest in England, and compared with national averages people are more likely to die from cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease and accidents. There is a wide health gap between the city and the country as a whole.

Summary Planners at Darlington Borough Council have produced an Open Spaces strategy. It prioritises improving the quality of open spaces close to areas of multiple deprivation to help reduce health inequalities.

Leicester City Council and its partners have used community involvement in regenerating housing and the neighbourhood on the Braunstone Estate

Background The Marmot Review ‘Fair society, healthy lives' states that: "targeting [20 mph] zones in deprived residential areas would help lead to reductions in health inequalities".

Growing demand for specialist homes for adult social care clients, coupled with a lack of available property led Dorset Council to use surplus public land for ‘meanwhile use’ to meet this urgent need. The OPE programme supported this pioneering scheme which has seen temporary, relocatable and adaptable homes developed for adults with learning disabilities, mental health issues or physical impairments.

Brighton is physically constrained with a short supply of vacant land for housing, coupled with high housing demand. With Land Release Funding and OPE support the local authority has unlocked a series of complex, unviable council-owned sites - and delivered 84 award-winning, affordable homes. Civic pride has increased and anti-social behaviour reduced from the regenerative effect.

Waltham Forest had an ambitious vision to develop a public services campus from their historic, but tired, town hall, and to provide much needed housing on vacated, surplus sites. OPE support, and Land Release Fund funding enabled the local authority, HM Courts and Tribunals Service and the National Probation Service to bring their complex programme to fruition, redeveloping public estate for over 500 homes, alongside new hospitality, leisure, and learning spaces.