In 2018, residents in Southall began to notice that a putrid gasoline-like smell in the air was coinciding with increased rates of sore chests, eyes, increased asthma related problems and headaches. Existing regulations and policies meant halting the redevelopment of a contaminated land site, the source of the community’s experiences, was difficult. Over the years, Clean Air for Southall & Hayes (CASH) wanted to demonstrate that the oversights from planning, policy, and regulatory systems were letting people like them down. In 2022 Centric Lab partnered with CASH to reimagine the HIA with the question “what if the HIA was designed by people like us, would the approaches have been different; would we have fallen so ill?” Together, they developed a new template, a CHIA. It became both a practical toolkit for other communities and the foundation of a learning programme to support wider adoption. The process and its outcomes have since been documented in peer-reviewed journals.
