Urban Planning Reform for Healthy Diets in Victoria

Access to healthy food is a fundamental human right, yet research from Deakin University’s Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition has demonstrated that access is inequitable across Victoria. In Greater Melbourne, access to unhealthy retailers (measured using a 10-point food environment scoring index) is far greater than access to healthier ones , with socioeconomically disadvantaged and rural areas most likely to be impacted by these disparities. Publicly available data on the interactive Australian Food Environment Monitoring Tool shows stark differences in food access based on where people live.

In Greater Melbourne, the density of fast-food outlets per 10,000 population doubled between 2008 and 2016. Fast-food outlets are strategically located in high-traffic areas such as major highways, shopping centres and tourist precincts to maximise visibility and accessibility. Moreover, evidence from Victoria shows that fast-food outlets are disproportionately concentrated in areas of low socioeconomic position and near schools.

The proliferation of fast-food outlets has occurred in parallel with a significant reduction in the availability of healthier food retailers, including reductions in the density of poultry shops (−84%), sandwich shops (−40%) and greengrocers (-8%). Using population health data, local access to healthy food has been associated with levels of overweight and obesity. In local government areas where more than half the population have access to a healthy food retailer within 1km from home, there is a lower average BMI, compared to areas where less than half of the population have this access with similar findings observed in other states.

Our research exploring access to food retail around primary schools in regional Victoria found that children’s diets and weight were associated with the food retail environment surrounding their schools. Children at schools that had more ‘unhealthy’ outlets around them (in a 1 km radius), compared to those with none, were half as likely to limit sugary drinks to less than one per day. Additionally, the presence of more supermarkets and ‘healthy’ outlets near schools was associated with a reduced likelihood of overweight or obesity among children.

Food environments can either support or limit access to healthy diets, leading to repeated calls for urban planners to better include public health considerations. Community demand for reducing the proliferation of drive-through fast-food outlets in Victoria and Australia is evident. The City of Greater Bendigo recently refused the establishment of a fast-food chain 70m from a primary school, even though it met planning policy requirements, calling upon the Victorian State Government to reform planning laws to protect community health. However, more than 1000 objections to a fast-food chain were overlooked in the Mornington Peninsula. Without strong State planning policies, the outcomes of community objections remain uncertain, especially when lobbying and corporate influences can outweigh community interests, making it harder to implement policies that support healthy food retail environments.

The UK provides a best practice example of how urban planning can be used to promote health by giving local governments the power to restrict the establishment of new unhealthy food outlets in areas surrounding children’s settings and where there is a high prevalence of overweight and obesity among children. These powers have been applied by local governments and have been successful in limiting approval of new hot food takeaway applications.

In Victoria, the Planning Act has not been amended to include ‘the promotion of environments that protect and encourage public health and wellbeing’ as a planning objective, despite recommendations to do so since a 2012 inquiry. Based on the available evidence from Australia and internationally, we propose the following recommendations to reform planning legislation in Victoria.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The Victorian Planning Act should be amended to include ‘the promotion of environments that protect and encourage public health and wellbeing’ as a planning objective.
2. In addition to recommendation 1, we recommend following the UK example to reform urban planning systems to give local governments the power to restrict new unhealthy food retailers near children’s settings and in areas with a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity among children.
3. Victoria should consider restricting any increase in the density of unhealthy food outlets (per person) at a state level. Prior to any government regulation, consideration should be given to freeze new applications for unhealthy food outlets in areas with the most unbalanced ratio of healthy to unhealthy food retailers or where community concern has been expressed.
4. Access to healthy food retailers should be actively monitored at the local government level. This could include setting a benchmark where at least 50% of the population have access to healthy food retail close to home.
5. The State government should explore incentive mechanisms that may encourage more healthy food retailers to be established and accessed.
6. Steps need to be taken to ensure that community voices objecting to the establishment of new fast-food outlets, whether on the grounds of community health or other, are meaningfully considered in the planning process.

Evidence Summary by Deakin University’s Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition and the Centre of Research Excellence in Food Retail Environments for Health: Next Generation.

Prepared by Dr Cindy Needham, Dr Christina Zorbas, Prof Adrian Cameron and Dr Shaan Naughton