People moving to a new garden city in Kent could get discounts off their shopping in exchange for exercising under new NHS plans.

The healthy living proposals also include property developers providing free bicycles with new houses and flats.

It forms part of the Healthy New Towns programme launched by the NHS in March last year, which aims to put good health at the heart of the way 10 new housing developments are designed.

Ebbsfleet Garden City, a 15,000-home development being built between Gravesend and Dartford, is one of the communities which was chosen for the initiative.

The scheme aims to reduce pressure on the health service by getting people to rethink their lifestyles.

Britain loses over 130 million working days to ill health each year.

A report by NHS Digital this year showed that over one in five children are obese or overweight when they start primary school, rising to over one in three by the time they leave.

The NHS plans – which were put forward in a design challenge for a new town in Halton in Cheshire – also feature sprinting tracks marked out on safe pavements, universal wifi, community kitchens and outdoor cinemas to encourafe people to go out and socialise.

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said: “If there’s to be a much-needed wave of new housebuilding across England, let’s “design-in” health from the start.

“The NHS makes no apologies for weighing in with good ideas on how the how the built environment can encourage healthy towns and supportive neighbourhoods.”

The plans have been revealed a month after another radical scheme which will see residents at Ebbsfleet given Fitbits for a year.

Developers at the garden city will then monitor how they exercise and use the information gathered to help them decide which parks, green spaces and leisure facilities to build.

“We are pleased that the NHS is backing this two year programme to fund new ways of promoting healthier lifestyles...” - Paul Spooner, Ebbsfleet Development Corporation

More than 120 people are taking part in the scheme according to Paul Spooner, interim chief executive of Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, which overseas the planning of the garden city.

He said: “We are encouraging more cycling, walking, and leisure and recreation in the garden city through the development of a network of green corridors and the launch of a digital health and exercise monitoring programme which tracks people’s exercise and use of our developing garden city paths and trails.

“Healthy eating is being promoted through the Edible Ebbsfleet programme in which gardens, hanging baskets and planters are being used for local people to grow fruit and vegetables.

“The hanging baskets in Northfleet High Street now bear tomatoes and strawberries rather than plants and flowers.

“We are pleased that the NHS is backing this two year programme to fund new ways of promoting healthier lifestyles.”