GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE and PLAY SPACE STRATEGY Vol 1: Strategy & Appendix 1 January 2020
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GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AND PLAY SPACE STRATEGY Vol 1: Strategy & Appendix 1 January 2020 EVIDENCE BASE DOCUMENT CONSULTATION DRAFT LOCAL PLAN 2018-2033 (Regulation 18) All maps reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. © Crown Copyright & Database Right 2019. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. All Rights Reserved. 100021846. Contents Contents .............................................................................................................................. 2 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 2. Natural and Semi-Natural Greenspace and sites with Biodiversity value ................ 5 Biodiversity sites ................................................................................................................ 5 Management of Green Infrastructure ................................................................................. 6 Partnership Working and Cross-boundary Issues .............................................................. 8 Green Infrastructure Enhancement through Planned Development ................................... 9 3. Chapter 3: Local Green Space .................................................................................. 11 National policy ................................................................................................................. 11 Local criteria .................................................................................................................... 11 Policy implications ........................................................................................................... 11 Sites ................................................................................................................................ 12 4. Play Space .................................................................................................................. 20 Existing provision ............................................................................................................ 20 Distances to Existing Play Spaces ................................................................................... 23 Expected new provision ................................................................................................... 32 Appendices 1 Local Green Spaces 2 Existing Play Provision 3 Play Space Buffers Page 2 of 34 1. Introduction 1.1. This Green Infrastructure and Play Space Strategy sets out evidence supporting planning policies in the emerging Future Mole Valley Local Plan. These policies will ensure that future strategic development delivers, protects, improves and enhances the District’s green infrastructure network and equipped areas for play. 1.2. Green infrastructure is defined as a network of multi-functional green space, urban and rural, which is capable of delivering a wide range of environmental and quality of life benefits for local communities. The term is often used in an urban context to cover benefits provided by wildlife habitat, trees, parks, gardens, road verges, allotments, cemeteries, woodlands, hedgerows, rivers and wetlands. 1.3. The importance and benefits of open space, sport and recreation facilities have been widely documented, and are recognised as underpinning people’s quality of life. Green infrastructure also contributes to mitigation of, and adaptation to climate change, absorbing greenhouse gasses, helping to mitigate flood risk and providing respite from over-heated urban areas. 1.4. Significant wellbeing benefits for children and young people can also be achieved through suitable provision of equipped play spaces, which are often close to or within larger public open green spaces. Well designed and implemented planning policies for open space, sport and recreation facilities are also fundamental to delivering MVDC’s corporate objectives which include: Promote opportunities for residents of all ages to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives Encourage participation in sports, leisure, cultural and educational activities, to promote responsible enjoyment of our parks, open spaces, heritage and countryside Protect and enhance the natural and built environment, and ensure our areas of natural beauty and wildlife are well looked-after Promote Mole Valley as a place for people to spend their leisure time and support local businesses to maximise opportunities from recreation and tourism 1.5. Mole Valley contains some particularly attractive areas of countryside including the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Area of Great Landscape Value (AGLV). Large ‘Commons’ are also a feature of many towns and villages, the function of which varies across the District. These areas have strongly influenced the character of the District and the views and priorities of residents. Open space, sports and recreation provision is often provided through multifunctional sites including within natural and semi-natural greenspaces, amenity greenspace, sports pitches and children’s play areas. 1.6. This Strategy focusses initially (in Section 2) on the most extensive areas of green infrastructure, including key areas and networks of natural and semi-natural Page 3 of 34 greenspace and sites designated for their biodiversity value. Section 3 focusses on the protection of open spaces within the built up areas and larger villages, through use of the Local Green Space designation. Finally, Section 4 focusses on equipped children’s play space, setting out how the Local Plan will respond to additional needs linked to new development and how planned development can help to improve provision for existing residential areas which lack good access to play space. Page 4 of 34 2. Natural and Semi-Natural Greenspace and sites with Biodiversity value 2.1. The NPPF sets out that Local Plans should take a strategic approach to maintaining and enhancing networks of habitats and green infrastructure (para 171). LPAs are also to plan for the enhancement of natural capital across local authority boundaries. This section focusses on the most extensive networks of green infrastructure in the District, which include areas of national and international significance and networks which straddle administrative boundaries. Biodiversity sites 2.2. There is an extensive network of sites designated for their biodiversity value across Mole Valley. The District includes sites designated at local, national and international level. 2.3. During development of strategic Local Plan options, greater weight was placed on safeguarding designated sites of international or national importance. The strategic approach is set out in the Constraints Analysis 2017, updated 2020, which steers strategic-scale development away from internationally and nationally designated sites as a matter of principle. 2.4. Smaller and more locally-important sites are also of very high value in biodiversity terms, supporting a more extensive network of inter-related habitat. The District also has an abundance of ancient woodland, historic and important1 hedgerows, veteran and ancient trees, all of which are part of the wider network of green infrastructure and merit careful stewardship. 2.5. With this in mind, it is considered important that the Local Plan continues to protect the full hierarchy of sites designated for their biodiversity value. The relevant policy (EN9, Biodiversity) incorporates a balancing exercise, allowing decision-makers to compare the benefits of development against the level of harm to biodiversity. This planning balance provides a mechanism for consideration of the relative importance of sites designated at different levels in the hierarchy, in line with the National Planning Policy Framework. 2.6. In the emerging Local Plan, specific policy measures to maintain and enhance networks of habitats and green infrastructure include: Outside built up areas, requiring that development proposals protect existing landscape features and support enjoyment of the countryside for informal recreation (policy EN8); Avoiding harm to nature conservation interests on designated sites, taking account of the level of harm weighed against the benefits of development (policy EN9); 1 See Hedgerow Regulations 1997 for definition of ‘important’ hedgerows. Page 5 of 34 Taking account of Biodiversity Opportunity Areas identified at County level to guide site-specific measures for habitat protection and enhancement linked to development (policy EN9); Requiring the use of native, preferably locally-sourced planting in landscaping schemes and other green infrastructure measures (policy EN9); Encouraging proposals which provide biodiversity net gains and/or increase the coherence of ecological networks (policy EN9); Safeguarding existing green infrastructure and supporting provision of a variety of new or improved green spaces (policy EN11); Designating a range of open spaces in the built up areas and larger villages as Local Green Space (policy EN12 – see also Chapter 3); Encouraging the use of planting within development sites as a means of contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation (policy EN14 and site allocation policies). 2.7. At the time of preparing this strategy, the Environment Bill 2019-20 is progressing through Parliament and MVDC is mindful of emerging national proposals for a statutory and standardised approach to biodiversity net gain through the development