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Bungendore Health Impact Assessment, New South Wales

Town/Region | Bungendore
State | NSW
Context | Rural and Regional
Target Group | All
Timing | Completed 2006
Weblink | Click here to view the website.

Overview

Bungendore, a town of approximately 2,000 people, is located in the Palerang Council area of south-eastern New South Wales (NSW).  Spurred by the appeal of a village lifestyle within commuting distance of Canberra, the old town of Bungendore has been the focus of significant residential development in recent years.  This recent population growth has highlighted the need for long term planning of future development and service provision. 

In order to identify and assess the potential health impacts of future development on the health of people living in Bungendore, a series of scenarios were developed.  Two of these scenarios – infill development only and infill plus greenfield development – were put through a health impact assessment (HIA). 

The HIA focused on three health-related areas: physical activity, water and social connectedness.  A series of recommendations were developed with the aim of ensuring that future development maximises residents’ health and wellbeing.

Key Features

  • Many of the HIA’s recommendations have been taken up in Palerang’s pre-Local Environmental Plan (LEP) discussion papers, including recommendations relating to: mixed land use, density, footpaths and cycleways, street connectivity and aesthetics, civic spaces, incidental contact and developing a shared sense of identity.
  • The overarching nature of the recommendations has enabled them to be applied in pre-LEP discussion papers for other towns within Palerang Council, thereby extending the reach of the project.

Considerations

  • While some of the recommendations from the HIA had associated costs, such as those relating to footpaths and cycleways, other recommendations were cost neutral for new development, such as adoption of grid-pattern street design or mixed land use. 
  • Health and local government agencies bring very different perspectives to the table when discussing the links between planning and health.  It is important to allow time for these perspectives to be understood and explored.  HIA allows the different perspectives to be offered and considered in a more sophisticated manner than might otherwise occur.  This maximizes the potential to create a healthy built environment that will deliver improved health for many years to come.

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Last updated on 5th June, 2009
Sponsors This project was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.