Delivering a Healthy Town
Promoting well-being through active design, healthy environments, and supportive community spaces. Making space for children’s play, sports, community gardening, and safe recreation.
Birkenhead’s compact layout was designed for active movement, naturally supporting walking, cycling, and everyday connections across the town. To make the most of this, public spaces need to feel safe, accessible, attractive, and welcoming. Reducing air and noise pollution will make time outdoors more enjoyable.
We have an opportunity to build a universal framework that promotes wellbeing, reduces loneliness, and connects people across generations. Successful models such as Merseycare’s Life Rooms and Bromley-by-Bow show how inclusive programmes can engage people throughout life.
The area is also well placed for a network of sports hubs, supported by funding from Sport England. Basketball, the UK’s fastestgrowing sport, has deep roots here, but local teams need better facilities to reach their potential and provide flexible spaces for community activities.
Success will come through lasting shifts toward sustainable behaviours, supported by environmental change. Creating this supportive environment will take time, so we must encourage and improvise in meantime ways while longer-term projects take shape and mature.