Open Spaces Assessment
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Ploszajski Lynch Consulting Ltd. Suffolk Coastal District Council Open Spaces Assessment October 2014 CONTENTS EXECUTUVE SUMMARY 1 1 INTRODUCTION 11 2 THE SUFFOLK COASTAL CONTEXT 16 3 STRATEGIC INFLUENCES ON PROVISION 21 4 DEMAND FOR OPEN SPACE 29 5 SUPPLY OF OPEN SPACE 38 6 THE CURRENT SUPPLY-DEMAND BALANCE 80 7 THE FUTURE SUPPLY-DEMAND BALANCE 90 8 PLANNING POLICY CONSIDERATIONS 91 9 ACTION PLAN 93 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The aims of the assessment 1) The aims of the assessment are to: To inform SCDC on the open space and recreational areas that are required to serve existing and new development, covering both the demand for and use of existing open space identifying areas of deficiency or surplus and highlighting priority locations for future provision. To identify the likely level of funding available from identified bodies, assisting in the delivery of the assessment and its action plan to ensure the area has access to good quality local and regional open space environments. To prioritise any funding for open space maintenance or projects from local authority budgets, including from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) or Section 106. To identify the provision needed to support measures to promote greater physical activity locally. To establish the longer term sustainability of open spaces and ancillary features such as car parking and on-going funding or management. To review existing local standards of both provision and accessibility and recommend prioritised solutions in the form of amendments, improvements or continued use of existing standards. What the assessment covers 2) The assessment covers the following types of publicly accessible open space: Parks and gardens. Natural and semi-natural greenspace (publicly accessible heathland, commons, woodland, countryside and coastal areas). Informal amenity open space (more than 0.2 ha in size). Allotments. Play provision for children and young people. Cemeteries. Rights of Way and public footpaths. About Suffolk Coastal 3) Population - The current population of Suffolk Coastal is 124,600. The relatively aged population structure is likely to inflate demand in the district for the gentler forms of exercise and physical activity, such as those accommodated by open spaces. 4) Ethnicity - The ethnicity of 96.6% of the local population is ‘White’ and since national and regional sports participation rates in a predominantly White populations is generally lower than for Black and minority ethnic groups, the demography of Suffolk Coastal should generate below average demand. 5) Disability - An estimated 19% of the local population (around 23,000 people) is affected by some form of disability and therefore ensuring that built facilities have adequate access arrangements, equipment adaptations and activity programmes is an important consideration. Ploszajski Lynch Consulting Ltd. 1 Suffolk Coastal District Council Open Spaces Assessment 6) Growth - The Office for National Statistics projections for Suffolk Coastal forecast that the population of the district will be 132,000 by 2027, an increase of 7,400 people, or 5.9% growth. However, the because of demographic trends, the number of people aged 50 or less will fall by 10,500 people, or 18.2%, which will mean enhanced demand for sports favoured by older people. 7) Income - The relatively buoyant local economy will boost the amount of disposable income available for discretionary spending on activities such as leisure and physical activity and should therefore increase demand levels. 8) Health - Good health indices locally underline the importance of ensuring access to open spaces, as part of a wider strategy to get the local population more physically active. 9) Deprivation - Although the deprivation indices for Suffolk Coastal as a whole are much better than the national average, there are some variations at a more local level. Since deprivation is associated with lower rates for participation in physical activity, patterns of demand are likely to vary within the district as a whole. 10) Landscape quality - The high quality of Suffolk Coastal’s natural environment, including the nationally designated Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, provides a strong attraction for many people seeking opportunities for high and low level physical activity, yet at the same time there is the need to conserve and enhance the natural qualities of the area. Meeting local and wider priorities 11) Business Plan - The Council’s Business Plan includes a commitment to promote active and healthy lifestyles and open spaces are an integral means of facilitating this priority. 12) Core Strategy - The Core Strategy contains positive policies on the provision and retention of playing pitches and non-pitch facilities. The ‘Settlement Hierarchy’ provides a framework for identifying levels of provision appropriate to settlements of different sizes. 13) Green Infrastructure Plan - The Plan sets standards for Accessible Natural Greenspace. When these are applied, much of the inland parts of the district are deficient in access to natural greenspace. 14) The Haven Gateway Green Infrastructure Strategy - The strategy identifies key projects in Felixstowe and Rendlesham/Tunstall Forests that would improve the capacity and accessibility to open spaces in the district. 15) The Suffolk Health and Well-being Strategy - One of the priorities in the Strategy is ‘increasing the levels of physical activity and encouraging greater use of our natural environment’. 16) The Suffolk Nature Strategy - The strategy identifies the benefits of encouraging increased levels of physical activity using open spaces. Ploszajski Lynch Consulting Ltd. 2 Suffolk Coastal District Council Open Spaces Assessment 17) The County Rights of Way Improvement Plan - The Plan highlights the need to develop the network both as a recreational resource in its own right and as a means of accessing open spaces. 18) National Planning Policy Framework - Government policy on open spaces is contained in the National Planning Policy Framework, which makes clear the importance of protecting and enhancing open space through evidence-based assessments of local need to inform the statutory planning process. Local demand 19) Participation rates - According to the ‘Active People’ survey, overall rates of adult physical activity in Suffolk Coastal have increased since 2005/6 and have consistently been above the regional and national averages, although the most recent figure (35.3%) fell back to around the regional and national figures. 20) Popular activities - The rates of local involvement individual sports activities are instructive, because outdoor activities like cycling and running, that make significant use of open spaces, have much higher than average participation rates in Suffolk Coastal. 21) Market Segmentation - The Market Segmentation data suggests that the relatively large proportion of residents from market segments representing older age groups suggests that demand for walking and gentle exercise will be buoyant in Suffolk Coastal. 22) Community consultation - A number of common themes have emerged from community consultation in each of the five sub-areas in the district, in particular: Public transport is poor in all the rural parts of the district, which emphasises the need for open space provision in and/or within easy reach of rural settlements. Whilst the public rights of way network is extensive and generally well-used, the network often involves interaction with busy roads. Levels of use in some areas have led to surface degradation and signposting/waymarking could be improved. Disabled access is poor at many open space sites. Car parking provision is inadequate at many of the more popular open space sites. 23) Visitor surveys - The two open space visitor surveys conducted in the district reveal that more than one-third of respondents visit open space sites at least daily, most drive to reach the locations concerned and around 80% live within 20km. A wide variety of different uses of open space include several forms of active physical recreation. Local supply 24) Park and gardens - There are only six parks and gardens in Suffolk Coastal, five of which are in Felixstowe with the other in Woodbridge. The quality of most aspects of most parks is rated as at least ‘average’ and two sites have achieved the coveted ‘Green Flag’ status. Accessibility to parks and gardens is mainly limited to the urban populations of Felixstowe and Woodbridge, although this accounts for 59,000 people in all (47.4% of the district population). Ploszajski Lynch Consulting Ltd. 3 Suffolk Coastal District Council Open Spaces Assessment 25) Natural and semi-natural greenspace - There are 63 natural/semi-natural greenspace sites in the district, totalling 5,868.26ha. Levels of provision are very much higher in the coastal sub-areas of the district than the inland areas. Five sites (7.4%) were rated as ‘high quality’, 12 (11.8%) were rated as ‘above average’, 35 (42.6%) as ‘average’, 16 (23.6%) as below average and 10 (14.7%) as ‘poor quality’. About 120,000 people (96.3% of the district population) are within 10 minutes drive, about 75,000 people (60.2% of the population) are within 10 minutes cycle and about 35,000 people (28.1% of the population) are within 10 minutes walk of their nearest natural or semi-natural greenspace site. 26) Amenity greenspace - There are 82 amenity greenspace sites in the district, totalling 75.98ha. There are large variations in levels of provision, with the Framlingham sub-area having the highest per capita levels of provision and Felixstowe the poorest. Nine sites (14.5%) were rated as ‘high quality’, 13 (19.4%) were rated as ‘above average’, 32 (51.7%) as ‘average’, eight (12.9%) as below average and only one (1.6%) as ‘poor quality’. About 110,000 people (88.2% of the district population) are within 5 minutes drive, about 85,000 people (68.2% of the population) are within 5 minutes cycle and about 45,000 people (36.1% of the population) are within 5 minutes walk of their nearest amenity greenspace site.