Chapter 6
Green and Blue Infrastructure, Open Space and Biodiversity
Main points
- We support all aims and objectives in this chapter that affect transportation.
- The draft chapter is well written and to be commended
- We support the retention of any open space which has a social, amenity, nature, historic, or conservation value. However, a blanket protection of all green space may be interpreted to any grassy area including those of no social, amenity, nature, historic, or conservation value and hence prevent infill development, we have suggested that 6.20 includes a clarification to ensure this is not the case.
We Strongly support the following objectives unchanged as they are in the current draft
Objective 6.16
Objective 6.17
Objective 6.18
Objective 6.19
Objective 6.20 a.
Objective 6.20 c.
Objective 6.20 d.
Objective 6.20 e.
Objective 6.20 f.
We believe that objective 6.20 b. needs modification to avoid conflict with the Strategic objectives laid out in chapter one and we cannot support without the following modifications.
We support the retention of and increase in open space which has a social, amenity, nature, historic, or conservation value.
However, a blanket protection of all green space may be interpreted to include small areas of grass which were included in suburban design to meet past planning requirement to develop at unsustainably low density and have an antisocial effect while having no social, amenity, historic or conservation value. These past requirements to develop suburban areas at lower density with large areas of open space has been shown to have sever negative effects on communities leading to car dependency, isolation, lack of retention of community services, antisocial behaviour etc. This legacy needs to be undone to achieve the requirement for compact growth in the national planning framework, the strategic objectives outlined in chapter 1 and the vision for a 15-minute City not protected.
In particular, 1-2m wide strips of grass are commonly found between the road and pavement and between the pavement and the boundary wall or fence. These spaces have been shown to have severe negative effect on communities by lowering density increasing journey length and hence promoting car dependency. Also, as they are not of a human scale they are perceived as desolate rather than social spaces and so are rarely used for amenity purposes. The strips of grass along roads serve to visually widen the road increasing speeds and decreasing safety, comfort and amenity for pedestrians and cyclists while lowering the density of communities. This acts to isolate people far from services amenities and social interaction.
A key to achieving compact growth and a 15-minute City is infilling existing low-density suburban areas with housing and services, to first increase the population density to provide a sufficient population within walking distance to support local services and then the further infill with those local services. The space to do this needs to be primarily taken from Road space, parking space but also these small left over grassy spaces which provide no amenity or nature value.
A blanket assumption of protection for these antisocial spaces lacking in nature value directly conflicts with the requirement for compact growth in the national planning framework, the strategic objectives outlined in chapter 1 and the vision for a 15-minute City. At a minimum Objective 6.20 b needs to be rewritten to specifically exclude spaces of this type while ideally another sub objective should be added to aim to audit the green space in the city to identify grassed over areas which have no amenity or nature value, act as an antisocial space and therefore should be used as infill for housing, genuine amenity, or conservation space (playgrounds or community garden for example) or community services.
Existing text
Objective 6.20
b. There will be presumption against development on all open space in residential estates in the city, including any green area / public amenity area that formed part of an executed planning permission for development and was identified for the purposes of recreation / amenity open space, and also including land which has been habitually used as public open space. Such lands shall be protected for recreation, open space and amenity purposes.
Suggested alternative text.
Objective 6.20
b. There will be presumption against development on open space which has been habitually used as public open space, where these spaces have any significant social, amenity, nature or conservation value. Such lands shall be protected for recreation, open space and amenity purposes. This protection should not apply to narrow strips of grass along or between roads and paths or to overly large gassy areas which are perceived as desolate attracting anti-social behaviour which may be reduced to a more human scale to enhance its amenity value.
