Planning has always shaped what we can build. Now it’s starting to shape what we can buy and eat too.

Up until now, the healthiness of our food environment - the food that is available, promoted and advertised to us - has not always been a primary focus within local and national planning. Planning decisions have traditionally been shaped by amenity considerations, such as managing noise late at night or minimising cooking smells for residents living above food outlets.

However, as Scotland grapples with the long-term challenges of obesity and diet-related ill health, awareness of the potential for our planning decisions to positively impact the food environment is shifting. Public health experts and local authorities are now looking at the planning system not just as a way to manage buildings, but as a lever to improve health.

Drawing from our work with Public Health Scotland and learning from the experience of delivery in England and Wales, our joint report explored the feasibility of introducing planning policies, including Takeaway Management Zones, as a way of improving our food environment in Scotland. Takeaway Management Zones (TMZs) are specific geographic areas where local councils restrict the opening of new hot food takeaways.

With health boards and local authorities now working alongside Public Health Scotland to capitalise on planning opportunities for the first time in Scotland, here are four things we’ve learned about the potential, the pitfalls and the future of planning for a healthier Scotland.

The legislative framework in Scotland has changed in relation to planning and health. The introduction of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), Scotland’s long-term plan for how its land and buildings should be used, represents an opportunity to now use the planning system as a lever to improve food environments.

Historically, councils had little if any mechanisms to block a new takeaway outlet on health grounds. Now, NPF4 provides a legislative tool that allows local authorities to design and implement policies such as TMZs, based on health data and evidence.

Whether it’s creating exclusion zones around schools or restricting the clustering of outlets in vulnerable neighborhoods, local authorities now have a mandate to act. However, rigorous local public health evidence must back this action, and those drafting Local Development Plans (LDPs) must include and assess this evidence as part of the process. [1]

[1] Local Development Plans (LDPs) are the statutory local planning documents that guide how land is used and developed within each council area.

There is a limit to the health impact that TMZs can achieve in the short term. Existing modelling of these policies in England suggests that even if every council in Scotland implemented TMZs tomorrow, we likely wouldn’t see a drop in obesity rates within a five year period.

Why? Because planning law is almost never retrospective. TMZs cannot close an existing takeaway, only influence new applications. The policy also can’t stop the increase in fast food restaurants as it only covers food-to-go businesses.

As they currently stand, TMZs can stop the growth of takeaways in areas that already have a high concentration of outlets, preventing the food environment from getting worse. It's a long-game preventative measure that should yield results over decades, not years.

A key challenge in using planning policy to improve food environments isn't whether data exists, but whether the planning system can reasonably use and defend it. The current Use Class system classifies businesses only by use, such as ‘hot food takeaway’ and doesn't distinguish between outlets selling healthier food and those selling food high in fat, salt or sugar. This limits planners' scope to design nuanced policies reflecting differences in health impact, particularly where decisions may face appeal.

But relevant data does exist. Local authorities already draw on outlet locations, density, deprivation and population health to justify food environment policies. However, the system lacks standardised, planning-ready data linking food retail, diet and health outcomes in ways that are consistent, robust and defensible. This constrains how targeted policies such as TMZs can be.

Local areas should not wait for better data before acting - our report is clear that incomplete data is no reason to delay. Early policies allow authorities to act on the best available local evidence while building legal precedent, confidence and capability. Over time, this creates the conditions for more sophisticated approaches.

New sources of information - such as mandatory health reporting for large food businesses announced in the UK government's 10 Year Health Plan - could enable more nuanced planning if adopted in Scotland. But these should be seen as enablers of future refinement, not prerequisites for now.

The most urgent lesson is the current timeline for planning policy implementation. Local Development Plans are the planning blueprints for communities in Scotland, typically operating on a 10-year cycle.

If local authorities miss the chance to include food environment policies in their upcoming LDPs, that opportunity is effectively lost until the next review in 2036, delaying any future strengthening further still. We shouldn’t wait for perfect data or a total overhaul of the Use Class Order to begin.

TMZs might be imperfect today, but they serve as a vital stepping stone. By adopting them now we can:

• build on and embed the legal precedent that health is a material consideration in land use
• build the administrative muscle within planning departments to tackle food environments, creating a foundation for more impactful policies in future
• ensure this lever remains available to our communities, rather than locked away until 2036

Harnessing planning policy to improve Scotland's food environment won't be quick, nor is it the only action we need to take. The system still has too many loopholes and gaps, and planning policies capture only a small share of the businesses shaping food environments. Making a real impact on health means bringing more into scope. Scotland has a real opportunity to act on the options already on the table, building on existing policies to create healthier food environments for years to come.

For planning to be a truly effective lever for healthier food environments, we need an overhaul of the data available and how it's used, a rethink of legal use classifications, and a long-term commitment from local and national government to deploy planning legislation in the service of health. This work must reflect the pressures small businesses face - only fair, proportionate policies will enable business owners to continue supporting the economic health of our high streets.

Still, a powerful precedent has been set. TMZs are the first step on a journey towards a future where the health of a community matters as much as the height of a building or the width of a road. We have the means - we just need the collective will to act.