New Zealand Health Impact Assessment Support Unit

Case Studies

Completed HIAs in New Zealand

• Register of Case Studies
• The Avondale Liveable Communities Plan
• The Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy (UDS)
• The Future Currents: Electricity Scenarios for New Zealand 2005 - 2050
• Greater Wellington Regional Land Transport Strategy
• Mangere Let’s Beat Diabetes HIA
• Nelson Marlborough DHB Social Impact Assessment of the Draft Nelson City Council Gambling Policy

---

Register of Case Studies

The New Zealand HIA Support Unit is continually updating and adding to its register of case studies. These will then be published on the website.

If you have completed or participated in an health impact assessment in New Zealand and would like to be part of this Register then please complete the Case Study form and email to hia@moh.govt.nz or fax (04) 816 2191.

Case Study form (Word, 29 KB)
Case Study form (PDF, 10 KB)

---

The Avondale Liveable Communities Plan

Auckland City had a draft plan that set out the proposed strategies to manage residential growth in Avondale over the next fifteen years, while strengthening the community, the economy and protecting the environment. Populations affected included the 14,000 people currently living within the Avondale area and the additional 5000 expected. The growth would be equivalent to about 40-50 new households on each street in the zone of change. The draft strategy was subject to a consultant led HIA in 2005, undertaken at short notice and in a compressed timeframe. The HIA included screening, scoping, assessment and reporting phases, as outlined in A guide to HIA. A rapid literature review of the evidence base and assessment of the population affected informed a participatory half-day workshop attended by a range of stakeholders. The results of this workshop, plus desk-based assessment work and information previously gathered in community consultations, provided the basis for the assessment and recommendations made. Thirty-three of 35 HIA recommendations to modify the plan for health gain were accepted by the Auckland City Council. Workstreams are being set up to implement them. Examples of the key recommendations from the HIA were:

• Encourage greater access to community facilities.
• Consider design impacts on health and wellbeing when assessing developments.
• Consider a hierarchical approach to transport within the Avondale area, placing greater emphasis on facilitating walking and cycling as modes of transport over private motor vehicles.
• Encourage the development of travel plans for schools and businesses.
• Incorporate crime prevention features in design ie, improving lighting and surveillance.
• Encourage the location of affordable child care facilities close to places of employment.
• Review provision of public open spaces for recreation and the need to locate them in close proximity to residential areas.
• Improve the quality of parks and facilities to encourage greater use.
• Work with local businesses to encourage the hiring of local people for local jobs.

The HIA was funded by the Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS). Stakeholder involvement was principally community-level agencies, local staff from central government departments and the Community Board. Results of previous community consultations on the plan were fed into the HIA.

Download the Avondale Liveable Communities Plan HIA report (PDF, 452 KB)

---

The Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy (UDS)

The Greater Christchurch UDS is a community-based collaborative project to manage the impact of urban development and population growth within the Greater Christchurch area. It involves four local authorities, central government and local business and community leaders who meet regularly as the UDS Forum.

The UDS was subject to an HIA led by the District Health Board’s Community and Public Health staff. Christchurch City Council also played a key role.

The HIA focused on five determinants of health agreed by participants – air and water quality, social connectedness, housing and transport. A separate workstream focused on developing an engagement process with local Māori around the UDS. The HIA facilitated meaningful participation by Māori in the UDS, an outcome that had previously been unsuccessful.

The HIA report has been accepted by the UDS Forum and has been incorporated as a working document into the strategy planning process. As a result, population health outcomes have become a key focus of the UDS (Stevenson 2006). In addition, the Christchurch City Council has seconded a public health registrar to continue public health oversight of council proposals.

Download the Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy HIA report - 2006 (PDF, 1 MB)

Download the The Impact Evaluation of the Christchurch Urban Development Strategy Health Impact Assessment - 2008 (PDF, 346 KB)

---

The Future Currents: Electricity Scenarios for New Zealand 2005 - 2050

This is a report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) that explores two different futures for electricity supply and demand in New Zealand. The two scenarios are:

• Fuelling the Future – assumes a small investment in energy efficiency with energy services provided by increased, largely bulk-generation capacity ie, a ‘business as usual’ scenario.
• Sparking New Designs – smart design is used to increase energy efficiency with a focus on energy services being provided on a small scale with emphasis on energy efficiency.

The HIA was commissioned to identify the health and wellbeing issues associated with the two scenarios. Stakeholder involvement comprised representatives of the energy sector and related organisations. The determinants of health chosen for the HIA were:

• Housing and building (new developments, rules in district plans, building codes, energy use, and indoor air pollution).
• Economics (individual costs for energy, what the money is spent on, and local and regional business development).
• Social connectedness (democracy, sense of control, and pride in community).

The HIA demonstrated the greater health benefits under the smart design scenario with its stronger focus on energy efficiency and small-scale generation. These benefits are additional to improved energy security and reduction in greenhouse gases. Three of the eight recommendations from the HIA were:

• The proposed energy strategy should include public health objectives
• The Building Code should be strengthened for energy efficiency
• The National ‘Energy Strategy should support small scale generation and energy efficiency initiatives. (Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2006).

View the HIA report, Healthy,wealthy, and wise. A health impact assessment of Future Currents: Electricity scenarios for New Zealand 2005-2050 (www.pce.govt.nz)

---

Greater Wellington Regional Land Transport Strategy

The Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) produced a draft 10-year Regional Land Transport Strategy (RLTS) for the region with a public consultation planned for November 2006. The GWRC strategy ‘seeks a resilient and sustainable transport network where getting around is easy, safe and affordable’.

The Land Transport Management Act 2003 stipulates that the RLTS must, among other things, ‘promote and protect public health’. To ensure it does, the GWRC commissioned an HIA that assessed the potential impacts of the RLTS on public health and community wellbeing.

An HIA workshop presented snap-shots of the evidence regarding transport and wellbeing, a description of the populations of interest in the region, and a description of the draft strategy. Participants focused on the potential positive and negative impacts of the strategy on community health and wellbeing.

Determinants of health were chosen for this HIA were physical activity, accessibility to services and the community, accident rates and changes in injuries and fatalities, reduced community connectedness (community severance) as a result of roads and/or traffic, and stress and anxiety. It focused on four expected outcomes:

• Public transport (scheduled train and bus services) infrastructure improvements.
• Public transport (scheduled train and bus services) ease of use improvements.
• Travel demand management, walking and cycling.
• Roading, the Grenada to Gracefield link.

A brief assessment of the objectives of the Regional Land Transport Strategy was also undertaken.

The main conclusions of the HIA approach were:

• The draft RLTS objectives have the potential to positively impact on public health and are supported.
• Overall the draft RLTS is unlikely to protect and promote public health for the region’s population.
• The draft RLTS is likely to increase inequalities in health, particularly between socio-economic groups.
• Increasing modal share for public transport use and walking and cycling, and reducing private motor vehicle modal share are the best ways for transport to promote health, and the draft RLTS is not predicted to achieve these changes. If the RLTS is to meet its objective of protecting and promoting public health it must shift its focus to increasing public transport and TDM use.
• Individual investments in the RLTS that promote public transport infrastructure and services, and access for people with disabilities are applauded. However, on balance their positive public health impact is likely to be overshadowed by the impact of the emphasis on new roading.
• An increased focus on equity is recommended in the RLTS objectives, policies, and packages.
• The draft RLTS displays a mismatch between the public health protecting and aspirational strategy objectives, with the public health damaging ‘advanced roading’ funding allocation.
• Assumptions that increased allocation of funds to public transport are likely to increase congestion and negatively impact on economic and regional development must be strongly challenged.

The major recommendations of the HIA approach were:

• Incorporate social equity and affordability into the RLTS objectives and outcomes.
• Investigate changes in fare pricing structures and fare boundaries to improve equity and affordability.
• Increase the proportion of funding for public transport, walking and cycling, and reduce the proportion of funding for new roading, as new roading is not likely to promote health, while other modes of transport are.
• Make trade-offs explicit with regard to the mis-match between objectives and funding allocations.
• Initiate HIA in projects that flow out of this RLTS, and initiate HIA earlier in future RLTS planning processes.
• Strengthen the aims of the RLTS towards increased mode share for public transport and active modes and reduced dependence on private motor vehicles.
• The Regional Council Transport Committee will consider the recommendations of the HIA, a strategic environmental assessment, and submission on the draft strategy. The Council will finalise the strategy early in 2007.

Download the Greater Wellington Regional Land Transport Strategy HIA report (PDF, 517 KB)

---

Mangere Let’s Beat Diabetes HIA

This HIA focused on the implementation of the Mangere Growth Centre plan – a plan linked with Auckland’s Regional Growth Strategy, which aims to better manage population growth in the region. The HIA was commissioned to be linked with the Counties-Manukau Let’s Beat Diabetes campaign and aimed to highlight aspects of urban design that ‘might contribute to a reduction of obesity levels in the district’. In particular, the HIA examined the proposed regeneration plans for housing and parks within a social housing precinct in Mangere, and the proposed Arts Centre and how they might affect the health and wellbeing of the local population. There was a particular focus on the link between urban design and physical activity/ nutrition, along with five other determinants of health: social connectedness, personal and community safety, access to services and employment, housing and community spaces

The key agencies involved were: Auckland Regional Public Health Service, Manukau City Council, Counties Manukau DHB and Housing New Zealand Corporation. Local community leaders and health workers were also involved on the steering group and in the appraisal process, and contributed to the formulation of the recommendations made in the final report.

The HIA report included a community profile and an evidence review of the links between urban development and health, along with a series of recommendations to the Manukau City Council, Housing New Zealand Corporation and Auckland Regional Public Health Service. These recommendations ranged from high-level policy and practice recommendations (eg, Manukau City Council building regulations around noise standards should be tightened to reflect best practice in the region), to detailed project level suggestions (eg, design of public spaces and social housing in the Housing New Zealand Corporation’s Pershore Precinct should support active living and recreation).

The final report was presented to senior management of Manukau City Council and Housing New Zealand Corporation in August 2006. Final decisions regarding the implementation of the Mangere Growth Centre plan have yet to be made, but Auckland Regional Public Health Service has commissioned an implementation plan for the recommendations made in the HIA, to ensure the issues are considered by key agencies throughout the ongoing planning and decision-making process.

Planners and community members involved in the HIA were enthusiastic about the process, particularly about the ability of the HIA to collect information and opinions from a range of stakeholders in a systematic way, and feed them into the planning process.

Download the Mangere Let's beat diabetes HIA report (PDF, 876 KB)

---

Nelson Marlborough DHB 'Social Impact Assessment of the Draft Nelson City Council Gambling Policy'

In November 2006, Nelson City Council (NCC) commissioned Nelson Marlborough DHB Public Health Service to undertake a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) of their Draft Gambling Policy. The main objective of the SIA was to assess the positive and negative social and wellbeing impacts of the draft gambling policy to inform the development of the final policy.

As this was the first Impact Assessment of this kind in the region, Quigley and Watts was contracted to guide the process, funded through a partnership between NCC and the Public Health Service.

Download a copy of the Draft Gambling Policy SIA Final Report (PDF, 212 KB)

Wellington Regional Policy HIA

This rapid Health Impact Assessment (HIA) was conducted to assess the impact of two sections of the draft provisions of the Regional Policy Statement (dpRPS) on health and well-being within the community. It was conducted by Regional Public Health (RPH) in partnership with Greater Wellington Regional Council (GRWC). By assessing the health impacts of the dpRPS, the HIA aims to improve the health of the community and reduce inequalities throughout the greater Wellington region.

Download the Wellington regional Policy HIA (PDF, 921 KB)

Page last updated: 25 October 2007