“Healthy towns” housing nearly 200,000 people will be built across the country as the NHS starts urban planning for the first time. Virtual care homes would be created by having houses connected by wi-fi, allowing elderly residents to speak to carers and to one another. Easier-to-navigate roads with more signs would create “dementia-friendly” communities. Adventure playgrounds would be a standard feature of street designs to make walking more fun for children, and fast-food-free zones would be enforced near schools. Under the scheme, NHS project managers would guide the development of ten towns and villages, containing 76,000 homes and about 170,000 residents, to discourage obesity and help older people to stay independent. Patients would be encouraged to consult their GPs via Skype; and houses with built-in communications to hospitals and surgeries could offer an alternative to “institutional” care homes. Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, wants the developments to be modern versions of the Edwardian garden cities. They represent a “golden opportunity” to show that design can improve health, he said, and other towns would be encouraged to copy the approach if it works. More than 100 councils and developers applied for NHS help under Mr Stevens’s scheme and ten have been chosen, from Devon in the south to Darlington in the north of England. Detailed plans are expected within six months as the NHS works with council

A gang of Irish travellers with links to a worldwide criminal network raked in hundreds of millions of pounds by stealing rhino horns and jade from stately homes, museums and auction houses to sell in the Far East. The gang stole £57 million in raids in Cambridge, Durham, Norwich and East Sussex. They made tens of millions of pounds more from thefts in about 70 locations across Europe since 2011. The focus on rhino horn was fuelled by demand from China and Vietnam, where it is used as medicine or a party drug. One horn can be worth up to £220,000. Four self-declared “generals” from the gang were found guilty yesterday of a conspiracy involving six British raids or attempted burglaries relating to works from the Qing and Ming dynasties. The verdicts came at the end of three linked trials during which a total of 14 men were jailed for their

David Cameron has been accused of mounting a “relentless campaign of fear” by a member of his cabinet over claims that it could take up to ten years to negotiate an exit from the EU if Britain voted to leave. Downing Street was criticised yesterday after publishing The Process for Withdrawing From the EU. The 23-page dossier warns that many components of EU membership, including the financial relationship, legal ties and trade deals, would make the talks highly complex. Mr Cameron was also attacked for undermining Britain’s negotiating position if the public voted to leave the EU. The new document said that if Britain voted for Brexit, the prime minister would automatically trigger the two-year exit procedure outlined under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. However, Vote Leave said in a statement: “There is no legal obligation in the European Union Refere