Green Infrastructure

NE7: Green Infrastructure 1. Development should deliver high-quality Green Infrastructure (GI) that performs multiple functions and provides a wide range of benefits, including for biodiversity, water quality and flood management, health and wellbeing, recreation, access to nature, and climate change adaptation. Proposals that enhance and expand green infrastructure will be supported 2. For residential developments of more than ten dwellings or with a combined gross internal floorspace exceeding 1,000 sqm, proposals must: a) Respond to local context by demonstrating an understanding of existing GI assets and identifying how the development will enhance and extend these networks. This should be informed by relevant published evidence and local assessment. b) Meet Natural England’s Accessible Green Space (AGS) standards set out in Appendix M to address the additional demand generated by the development. 3. A Green Infrastructure Statement must be submitted and approved, setting out how the proposal integrates with, enhances the local GI network, and satisfies AGS requirements. 4. Development must: a) Provide on-site amenity green space as part of AGS provision. b) Deliver formal sports, play, and allotment facilities as appropriate, either on- or offsite, on land additional to AGS provision, ensuring these facilities complement the wider GI network. c) Ensure that any green space counted towards AGS standards meets the definitions of ‘accessible’ and ‘natural’ as set out in supporting text. 5. Accessible green space to meet the standards in Appendix M should be provided on-site or off-site unless it is robustly demonstrated, through assessment, that existing provision (taking account of the development and committed schemes) already meets the required standard. Management and Maintenance of GI 6. Green infrastructure being provided must have a long-term management and maintenance strategy to be agreed by the council with assets managed for at least 30 years after completion and during this time secure a mechanism to manage sites into perpetuity. The management and maintenance strategy shall set out details of the owner, the responsible body and how the strategy can be implemented by contractors. Definition of Green Infrastructure 7.174 National planning policy sets out that Local Plans should take a strategic approach to maintaining and enhancing networks of habitats - for wildlife - and green infrastructure – for people, recognising the wide range of benefits that such green spaces can provide. This policy expects all green infrastructure to provide a range of benefits appropriate to its type, scale and location. Further to green infrastructure design principles, the policy identifies several principles relating to the planning process to ensure the successful delivery of green infrastructure. Green Infrastructure is designed, developed and managed to meet the environmental, social and economic needs of communities and wildlife. 7.175 Green infrastructure is a network of high quality multi-functional green spaces in both urban and rural areas as well as associated features such as trees, hedgerows, ponds, waterways, green roofs and green walls. The term includes open green spaces such as parks and gardens, country parks, allotments, cemeteries, green corridors (including cycleways and rights of way), village greens and trees. It also includes informal amenity green spaces and accessible countryside such as river and canal corridors, woodland, natural grassland, wetlands, lakes and nature reserves (water related green infrastructure is also known as ‘Blue Infrastructure’). 7.176 Well-planned multi-functional green infrastructure is an important component of achieving sustainable communities. Green infrastructure helps to deliver conservation and enhancement of biodiversity, create a sense of place and appreciation of valuable landscapes and cultural heritage, increase recreational opportunities and support healthy living, improve water resources and flood management as part of environmentally sustainable design. It can also positively contribute towards combating climate change through adaptation and mitigation of impacts and production of food, natural fibre and fuel. It helps deliver NHS initiatives around improving people’s health and tackling obesity. Buckinghamshire’s high quality green infrastructure is a vital asset and an important element in ensuring that Buckinghamshire is somewhere people choose to live and locate their businesses. The Policy will be used to ensure a green infrastructure network is provided throughout Buckinghamshire with enhancements helping to address existing green infrastructure deficiencies. 7.177 The character of Buckinghamshire is defined by a wide variety of green infrastructure assets, including rural and urban trees, formal country parks and meadows, forests (including former royal hunting forests such as Whaddon Chase and Bernwood Forest), linear networks of hedgerows, canals, reservoirs, riverside walks, rights of way, and the Chilterns National Landscape. These features should be recognised, enhanced and, where possible, better connected—for example, by improving pedestrian and cycle links to existing natural trails in the Chilterns National Landscape and coordinating with the delivery of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy. 7.178 A Green Infrastructure (GI) Statement is a planning document that outlines how a proposed development incorporates, protects, and enhances natural and semi-natural features (such as trees, ponds, and green roofs). It is designed to maximize environmental benefits, improve climate resilience, and provide a net gain for biodiversity. The statement should be completely proportionate to the scale of your project. For a small domestic extension, this might only be a short paragraph, while a major commercial development will require a more comprehensive document. 7.179 Natural England’s Accessible Greenspace Standards (AGS) are a set of guidelines designed to ensure everyone has fair access to nature. They require that publicly accessible green and blue spaces are within a 15-minute walk from home, while meeting specific targets for size, quality, and overall provision, further details of the standards are set out in appendix M. 7.180 Management of green spaces, as set out in the policy, new green spaces provided require a long-term management plan. This is to ensure the new areas are maintained and not just provided as part of the development and then left unmanaged. The 30-year management requirements for green spaces have become the national standard time linked by legislation associated with Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) the management plans require landowners to legally secure and actively manage habitats for at least 30 years to reach and sustain specific ecological target conditions.