Open Space Strategy 2014 - 2028 Foreword Councillor Robert McCardle Cabinet Member Planning and Business Enterprise I am pleased to introduce the second Open Space Strategy for South Staffordshire. It aims to build on the successes from the previous strategy and looks at future ways to provide the open spaces that the district’s residents and visitors deserve. Open spaces provide essential facilities for all kinds of recreational activity, aid people’s health and wellbeing, assist in supporting the economy, mitigate the impacts of climate change and are part of the solution to flooding. In short, they are vitally important in creating sustainable places and sustainable communities as well as providing a wealth of other environmental benefits. It is therefore necessary to ensure that open space considerations form part of the Council’s strategic planning work. We have recently completed a major piece of work on the provision of indoor and outdoor sports facilities. That work is complementary to this Open Space Strategy and, together they will contribute to a Supplementary Planning Document on Open Space, Sport and Recreation that supports policies in the Local Plan. Only by careful strategic planning can we make sure that existing open spaces are safeguarded and enhanced and that new sites are provided through the development management process. We have set an ambitious but achievable set of challenges that will be met through the implementation of this strategy. Over the course of the next 15 years, we will meet these challenges and deliver the vision for open spaces in South Staffordshire. 1 Foreword Councillor Mrs Mary Bond Cabinet Member Community Services Open spaces are one of the most visible services the Council provides. They are part and parcel of South Staffordshire’s villages and contribute very significantly to quality of life. They provide opportunities for all types of recreation by people of all ages along with providing ‘green lungs’ within urban environments and play a major role in tackling issues such as climate change and flooding. Additionally, within the district, there are major areas of natural greenspace that is vital in supporting wildlife along with a number of publicly accessible historic parklands. It is of the utmost importance that we protect and enhance our sites and assist partners to do the same so that residents and visitors can continue to benefit from all the different types of open space on offer. However, we also need to make sure that the way we look after our open spaces is appropriate and can meet community needs. We will seek to strike a balance between the needs of residents and the importance of meeting our biodiversity duty. This is why it is important to draw up a strategy that provides the basis for managing sites in a consistent way with their day-to-day maintenance being carried out in accordance with a set of strategic aims. This Open Space Strategy links closely to the Council Plan and the Sustainable Community Strategy and provides the basis for ensuring open spaces across South Staffordshire are of high quality, accessible and valued by all. The Council is determined to ensure that it makes the best of the district’s open spaces, now and in the future, for the benefit of its residents and visitors. 2 Contents Introduction 7 1 An Open Space Strategy for South Staffordshire 9 The structure of this document 9 Timescales 9 2 A vision for open space in South Staffordshire 10 Background 10 Why prepare an open space strategy? 10 Scope of the strategy 12 3 Context 14 About South Staffordshire 14 South Staffordshire’s landscape character 15 Community characteristics 15 Settlement hierarchy 19 South Staffordshire localities 21 International Policy context 22 The European Landscape Convention 22 National Policy context 23 The National Planning Policy Framework (2012) 23 The Natural Choice: Securing the Value of Nature (2011) 24 The Localism Act 2011 25 Healthy Lives, Healthy People (2011) 25 Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 25 Other guidance relevant to South Staffordshire 26 Blue Sky Green Space: Understanding the Contribution Parks and Green Spaces can make to Improving People’s Lives (2011) 26 Green Infrastructure Guidance (Natural England) 26 Local Green Infrastructure: Helping communities make the most of their landscape 26 Accessible Natural Green Space Standards (2010) 26 Local Policy Context 27 South Staffordshire Core Strategy (Local Plan Development Plan Document) 27 South Staffordshire Council Plan 2012-2016 27 South Staffordshire Sustainable Community Strategy 2008-2020 27 South Staffordshire Sports Facilities and Playing Pitch Strategy 2012-2028 27 South Staffordshire Energy and Our Local Environment Framework 2012-2017 28 South Staffordshire Conservation Area Appraisals and Management Plans (2010) 28 Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Management Plan 2014-2019 28 Other South Staffordshire Council initiatives of relevance to open space 29 South Staffordshire Community Safety Partnership 29 South Staffordshire Locality Commissioning Partnership 29 3 4 Current open space provision 30 New Sites and Sites Subject to Improvement 30 Re-assessment of Sites – Approach and Methodology 30 Re-assessment Results Summary 31 Quantity 31 Quality 32 Accessibility 32 Value 33 Site Assessment Results 33 Setting Local Provision Standards 33 Amenity Greenspace 34 Quantity of Provision 35 Quality 36 Value 36 Young People and Children 38 Quantity of Provision 39 Quality 40 Value 41 Cemeteries and Churchyards 42 Quantity of Provision 42 Quality 43 Value 44 Civic and Heritage Spaces 45 Quantity of Provision 45 Quality 46 Value 47 Natural and Semi-Natural Greenspace 48 Quantity of Provision 48 Quality 49 Value 50 Green Corridors 51 Quantity of Provision 51 Quality 52 Value 53 Allotments 54 Quantity of Provision 54 Quality 55 Value 55 Historic Parks and Gardens 57 Quantity of Provision 58 Quality 59 Value 59 5 Delivering the vision 61 Ensuring the Right Quantity, Quality and Value – how standards will be used to deliver and manage open spaces 61 Quantity 61 Quantitative Planning Standards for future open space provision 62 Open spaces not suitable for Quantitative Planning Standards 64 4 Quality 65 Value 65 Accessible Natural Greenspace Standards (ANGSt) 65 The South Staffordshire Standards 68 Amenity Greenspace 68 Young Children’s Provision 69 Provision for Older Children and Young People 70 Cemeteries and Churchyards 70 Civic and Heritage Spaces 71 Natural and Semi-Natural Greenspace 72 Green Corridors 73 Allotments 74 Historic Parks and Gardens 75 Effective Strategic Planning for Open Space 75 Open Space within the Development Management Process 76 Developer guidance on Open Space Standards to be delivered through new development 77 Calculating the number of bed spaces created by a development 79 Open space Quality and Value in new development 82 Green Infrastructure 82 Open Space Management and Maintenance 83 Health and Wellbeing 86 Water Management 87 Open Space and the Economy 88 Priorities and Performance Monitoring 90 6 Action plan 91 Environmental Quality 91 Housing 93 Economic Vibrancy 94 Community Safety 96 Health and Wellbeing 97 Young People and Children 98 References and additional bibliography 101 List of Figures 1. Document links 13 2. South Staffordshire’s regional context 14 3. Population – children and young people 17 4. Population – over 19s and those of working age 18 5. Population – older people 19 6. Settlement hierarchy 20 7. Locality structure 22 8. Major open spaces and linkages 67 9. Investment in Green Infrastructure Logic Chain 89 Appendices 1. Quality and Value Site Assessment Sheet Templates 5 2. Quality Scoring Definitions and Value Assessment Criteria 3. Open Space Comparator Standards 4. Open Space Audit Site Assessment Results 5. Approach to Catchments and Standards 6. Open Space Consultation: Parish Council Responses 7. Open Space Consultation: Other Responses 8. South Staffordshire Tree and Woodland Strategy 6 Introduction The South Staffordshire Open Space Strategy is the second such strategy for the district. It updates and replaces the previous strategy published in 2008 and aims to be aspirational but sufficiently realistic. The document sets out the Council’s vision for open space and demonstrates the importance of providing a broad range of good quality, accessible open spaces for the district’s residents and visitors. The strategy makes the case that the provision of open spaces that meet the needs of local communities is not a luxury but a necessity. It clearly demonstrates the links to the Council’s Priorities and those of its partners covering a range of agendas including housing, environment, economy, community cohesion and health and wellbeing. Importantly, the Open Space Strategy provides a key document in the preparation of an Open Space, Sport and Recreation Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) as part of the Council’s strategic planning process. It also provides the policy basis for improvement of existing open spaces by the Council and its partners and contributes to the drive to place customer needs at the heart of everything the Council does. A detailed audit of all open spaces in the district has been completed and the results are set out as part of this strategy. This updates the Open Space Audit carried out in 2008. As part of completing the Audit, wide ranging community consultation took place in September-December 2013 to seek local views on the open spaces in our district. The Audit was informed