Pursue environmental sustainability and health equity together - Print version

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This priority focuses on:

  1. A transport system that promotes active travel and road safety, and minimises pollution.
  2. The retrofitting of homes to be energy efficient, climate resilient and healthy.
  3. An energy transition that minimises air pollution from all sources.
  4. Building a sustainable resilient healthy food system.
  5. Healthy and sustainable models of work.

Background

Many of the actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will also improve health and reduce existing health inequalities. However, there is a potential for interventions, and the recent increases in energy costs to widen inequalities. There must be an equity focus as well as a harm reduction and mitigation focus on interventions and strategies to reduce the effects of climate change.

Marmots ‘sustainable health equity’: Achieving a net zero UK Advisory Group Report for the UK Committee on Climate Change 2020 highlights that‘ Factoring the health equity effects into policies requires a more nuanced approach to mitigation and adaptation: for example, home energy efficiency measures must also benefit indoor air quality and temperature, and reach those most exposed to temperature extremes and indoor air pollution; reducing meat and dairy consumption needs to involve substitution with healthy, lower carbon alternatives that are affordable and accessible; and decarbonisation of transport must involve low pollution and safe forms of transport that are preferably active and, at the very least, accessible to all.’

Coventry residents and businesses are now facing some of the greatest challenges in the history of the city which are impacting upon sustainability, contributing to climate change and the quality of life of its citizens especially those who are the least well-off in society. Climate change, pollution and other impacts on the environment affect us across the city, our quality of life, health, and wellbeing. Coventry’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy recognises the need to address inequities where those families from the lowest incomes are facing the greatest challenges including environmental changes, poorer air quality, rising fuel costs and inflationary rises in food prices are impacting significantly.

What we know

There are a number of programmes of work and interventions that support the pursue of environmental sustainability and health equity recommendation. These include:

  1. Provide access to a safe, sustainable, equitable and resilient transport system the social gradient and opportunities for active travel.
  2. Create good quality biodiverse green spaces that are accessible locally.
  3. Maximise opportunities to improve the safety, security, quality, ventilation, and energy efficiency of housing to an EPC (Energy Performance Certificates) rating of C or above wherever possible across the social gradient.
  4. Reduce Coventry City Council's carbon footprint.
  5. Increase natural resources and biodiversity.

Legislation, Government guidance that support the pursue environmental sustainability & health equity recommendation:

Links to service developments and strategies to support this recommendation:

Indicators

The indicators below will tell us how we are progressing:

  • Air quality breaches
  • Access to open space
  • Sustainable Food Places status (a national recognised awards scheme currently aiming for bronze standard)
  • Properties benefiting from rises in EPC ratings for homes

Services and activities

Delivery partners

  • Act on Energy
  • Coventry City Council
  • Coventry City Council Property Licensing and Housing Enforcement
  • Coventry City Council Public Health Team
  • Coventry University Enterprises Limited Midlands Engine
  • Coventry University
  • E.ON
  • University of Warwick

How we will measure progress

  • Household survey - Transport to work / transport to education and escorting children to school
  • Cordon count* Cycling only
  • Nos of Air Quality Breaches
  • Access to open space indicators
  • Sustainable Food Places status (a national recognised awards scheme currently aiming for bronze standard)
  • Number of properties benefiting from rises in EPC ratings for homes.

Case Study 1 - Coventry grows

Coventry Grows is a community growing programme, funded by the Strategic Energy Partnership between Coventry City Council and E.ON, and will establish community growing sites in Coventry to increase the number of accessible green spaces in the city.

The programme supports the Marmot Principles create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities and pursue environmental sustainability and health equity together. Working in a Marmot way enabled us to work differently to understand that growing food can be an opening to create a greater connection for marginalised groups within communities.

Engaging communities that don’t typically get involved in growing is an important part of the project and will be delivered through a series of training sessions for interested members on growing organically and creating spaces for wildlife.

What our organisation did

We had identified a list of unused sites across the city that could be transformed into growing sites and mapped them alongside allotments and existing growing organisations active within the city. We used several data sets to narrow this longlist of potential growing sites down to three sites, using proportionate universalism to allocate resources proportionate to need. We used the Index of Multiple Deprivation Decile to understand where general deprivation sits within the city, and the Accessible Natural Greenspace Inequality and Deprivation (ANGST) data to highlight which neighbourhoods have the least access to natural green space. In addition, the Coventry Green Space Audit highlighted the quantity of green space per 1000 population by Ward. There were some small variations in these data sets but similar themes which highlighted the areas in most need of more green space.

Interest in community growing is high in the city and existing organisations are also keen for funding so it was important to ensure that the programme will generate benefits where it is most needed to help tackle inequalities. Using this data to determine the final sites where the resources do not already exist means we can support a more equitable network of growing across the city.

Successes

As the programme and sites progress, monitoring the impact of the sites on the health of both the local communities and wildlife will be key to understanding how these spaces can create value in cities and help address a variety of social and environmental challenges.

View a print version  [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/marmot-monitoring-tool/ten-years-marmot-city/print]

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