INFO PACK V2 Sept09rev A.Indd
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ST EDMUNDSBURY GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE: INFORMATION PACK A Guide for Developers and Planners Delivering Green Infrastructure INFORMATION PACK INFORMATION CONTENTS Introduction 1 Benefi ts of Green Infrastructure 3 Integrating GI into Development Management 8 Broad Green Infrastructure Principles 9 Green Infrastructure Vision for St Edmundsbury 12 Green Infrastructure Vision Map 15 - Action Zone A: Black Bourn and Little Ouse Headwaters 17 - Action Zone B: Brecks 21 - Action Zone C: River Valleys 23 - Action Zone D: Bury St Edmunds 29 - Action Zone E: Haverhill 39 - Action Zone F: Historic Parkland and Woodland 45 - Action Zone G: Ancient Farmland 47 Summary and Green Infrastructure Checklist 51 INFORMATION PACK INFORMATION INTRODUCTION What is Green Infrastructure? ‘Green Infrastructure is a strategically planned and delivered Planning for green infrastructure should respond to network comprising the broadest range of high quality green and refl ect these subtleties and distinctive landscape spaces and other environmental features. It should be characteristics. designed and managed as a multifunctional resource capable of delivering those ecological services and quality of life Why this report is needed benefi ts required by the communities it serves and needed to underpin sustainability. Its design and management should This Information Pack interprets the detailed information also respect and enhance the character and distinctiveness set out in the St. Edmundsbury Green Infrastructure of an area with regard to habitats and landscape types. Strategy (Technical Report), 2009. Green Infrastructure includes established green spaces and new sites and should thread through and surround the built It identifi es the key messages of the Green Infrastructure environment and connect the urban area to its wider rural Strategy for the borough and presents them clearly for hinterland. Consequently it needs to be delivered at all the target audience who are responsible for protecting, spatial scales from sub-regional to local neighbourhood levels, managing and delivering new GI through the planning accommodating both accessible natural green spaces within system. local communities and often much larger sites in the urban fringe and wider countryside’. It has been prepared in response to the signifi cant housing growth proposed within St. Edmundsbury which The reference above to character and distinctiveness is equivalent to 15,400 new homes between 2008 and relates to another important aspect of green 2031 and a potential increase in population. Such growth infrastructure which is its relationship to the place- must be planned holistically and sustainably, in a way that making agenda, that is recognising an area’s special responds to and respects the distinctive character of the character and ensuring this is refl ected in plans and place. Green infrastructure is therefore a ‘must have’, proposals. In St Edmundsbury, the green infrastructure as important as any other form of infrastructure which resource has a very distinctive quality in terms of would be considered a prerequisite for development. landscape character, whether in the heathlands and plantations of the Brecks, the network of river valleys that thread through the borough, historic parklands such as Ickworth or the ancient woodlands or small scale enclosure landscapes in the south of the borough. 1 Who it is aimed at? The Information Pack is aimed primarily at Developers and Development Management Offi cers. It seeks to ensure that development proposals: • consider how they can contribute to GI (individually or part of a wider scheme); • are evaluated against the GI network and strategy to ensure that they contribute to the desired environmental outcomes and functions. • consider how development can be integrated into existing GI providing enhancement opportunities Green Infrastructure Guidance and new GI where possible. www.naturalengland.org.uk Where to fi nd out more For further detail see the full St. Edmundsbury Green Infrastructure Strategy, which can be found at: July 2009 ST EDMUNDSBURY www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/ldf GREEN INFRASTURCTURE ACTION PLAN PART 2: GREEN To learn more about Green Infrastructure generally, INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGY see Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Guidance, AND ACTION PLAN available at: http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/ planningtransportlocalgov/greeninfrastructure/default. aspx Prepared for St Edmundsbury Borough Council by Land Use Consultants 2 INFORMATION PACK INFORMATION PACK INFORMATION BENEFITS OF GI Why green infrastructure? Need and demand Now more than ever before, we must plan A range of standards exist to evaluate green positively for green infrastructure and ensure its infrastructure provision and potential future need delivery. such as the natural England Accessible Natural • Green infrastructure is recognised as a Open Space (ANGSt) Standards. Need for new ‘must have’ for communities and for and enhanced green infrastructure can also be sustainable development; measured in functional terms. • Our environmental resources are under © Crown Copyright LUC 100019265 increasing pressure in the face of The needs and demand for green infrastructure development and climate change; in St. Edmundsbury are summarised below: • Green infrastructure can help adapt to and mitigate climate change; • Green infrastructure plays a key role as a ‘life support system’, able to deliver multiple environmental functions, and economic, social, environmental and sustainability. © Crown Copyright LUC 100019265 The green infrastructure approach is widely recognised for its multifunctional possibilities in relation to our environment, and for its contribution to the three pillars of sustainable development – the economic, social and environmental agendas. © Crown Copyright LUC 100019265 Application of the ANGSt Standards to St Edmundsbury Borough 3 BENEFITS OF GI Sustainable Resource Management Addressing socio economic issues • Strategic fl ood risk mitigation opportunities at the • Bury St Edmunds - the key factors to consider when Meldham Washlands, north west of Haverhill. planning the GI network will be to enhance existing environmental assets and strengthen opportunities • Rivers Lark and Linnet corridors to the north, south and for safe, well-designed and accessible greenspace for a west of Bury St Edmunds provide key opportunities for GI. variety of users (pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders) with different needs (e.g. 65+ age group concentrations). • Expansion of fl oodplain and riparian woodland to aid downstream fl ood control, particularly on land that may be • Haverhill - it will be important to ensure that provision is unsuitable for agricultural production due to winter made for a wide variety of social groups and their fl ooding. needs within the GI network – natural play (outdoor classroom, healthy living, access to nature), and recreational • Restoration/creation of orchards, allotments and facilities for young teenage/adolescent groups. community gardens in Haverhill. • Inclusion of areas for local food production, in particular close to existing or planned residential areas. • Opportunities to enhance woodland planting and management for fuel production. 4 INFORMATION PACK INFORMATION PACK INFORMATION BENEFITS OF GI Key Accessible open Meeting green infrastructure standards space Interpreting the Accessible Natural Greenspace Standards (ANGSt) for the St. Edmundsbury reveals: Accessible open • a defi ciency in sub regional scale green infrastructure (sites space catchements over 500ha) to the south east of Bury St. Edmunds, with the north and west well provided for due to the proximity to the King’s Forest. • County scale provision (sites of 100-500ha): With the © Crown Copyright LUC 100019265 © Crown Copyright LUC 100019265 exception of sites such as West Stow and Knettishall Subregional County Heath Country Parks, along the northern/north western Borough boundaries, St Edmundsbury is otherwise defi cient. • District (20-100ha sites) and neighbourhood (2-20ha sites) provision is generally good across the Borough, with localised pockets of defi ciency. This suggests a need for enhanced provision of county scale green infrastructure and enhanced links to sub regional scale green infrastructure assets as well as to address defi ciencies in district © Crown Copyright LUC 100019265 © Crown Copyright LUC 100019265 scale greenspace (e.g. parklands for Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill. District Neighbourhood 5 BENEFITS OF GI Growth Agenda The East of England Plan proposes continued • increased pressure on the road and housing growth in the borough and Bury transport network can be mitigated St Edmunds is identifi ed as the sub regional by the provision of walking and centre for West Suffolk and a key centre for cycling routes that link to transport hubs, development and change. Of the 10,000 homes service centres, and recreational assets. to be built between 2001-2021 and 5400 to be • increased pressure on formal and informal built between 2021-2031 the council proposed recreational facilities can be mitigated by distribution is: 50% in Bury St Edmunds, 34% the provision of improved and new in Haverhill and 16% distributed amongst the greenspaces, including linear routes. villages. • increased pressure on health resources There will be an estimated 8% increase in can be mitigated in part by the provision population, to a total of 121,110 by 2021. of walking and cycling routes, and Haverhill is likely to experience the greatest accessible greenspaces,