Green Infrastructure
Across the Yorkshire and the Humber region, Natural England has been providing advice and support on Green Infrastructure planning projects. We have also given technical advice on the delivery of high quality green spaces and other environmental features.
Introduction to Green Infrastructure (GI)
Natural England defines green infrastructure as 'a strategically planned and delivered network comprising the broadest range of high quality green spaces and other environmental features'. It should be designed and managed as a multifunctional resource capable of delivering those ecological services and quality of life benefits required by the communities it serves and needed to underpin sustainability. Its design and management should also respect and enhance the character and distinctiveness of an area with regard to habitats and landscape types.
Green infrastructure includes established green spaces and new sites and should thread through and surround the built environment and connect the urban area to its wider rural hinterland. Consequently it needs to be delivered at all spatial scales from sub-regional to local neighbourhood levels, accommodating both accessible natural green spaces within local communities and often much larger sites in the urban fringe and wider countryside.'
Accessible natural greenspaces are very important to our quality of life, they provide a wide range of benefits both for people and the environment. Natural England believes that everyone should have access to good quality natural greenspace near to where they live and advocates the Accessible Natural Greenspace Standard (ANGSt).
Regional mapping of green infrastructure has been developed with local partners
Regional strategies
Leeds City Region Green Infrastructure Strategy
Natural England have been working with partner organisations to provide advice and support to the Leeds City Region GI strategy. The strategy sets out the vision for green infrastructure in the city region and explains how future investment in green infrastructure will be secured and where investment should be targeted. It also highlights areas where further work is needed.
Leeds City Region Green Infrastructure Strategy Executive Summary
Leeds City Region Green Infrastructure Strategy
South Yorkshire Green Infrastructure Strategy
Natural England has been supporting the South Yorkshire local authorities (Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham & Sheffield) plus Transform South Yorkshire and Sheffield City Region in preparing a green infrastructure strategy for South Yorkshire. The South Yorkshire Forest Partnership have been commissioned to produce this 20 year vision for improving the area’s green infrastructure.
Now complete, the strategy sets out a delivery plan to link up existing assets and secure enhancements in targeted locations for investment.
Regional projects
Natural England have been involved in a number of projects which will help deliver the GI strategy. A brief summary of two of them:
Dearne Valley Green Heart Partnership
The Dearne Valley has a rich variety of wildlife and plays an important role as a GI corridor in South Yorkshire. To enhance and extend the habitats in the Dearne Valley, we are working with partners such as the Environment Agency and the RSPB in the Dearne Valley Green Heart (DVGH) Partnership to create new habitat in flood storage washlands. Natural England, through the DVGH Partnership, is creating a new 52 hectare wetland habitat at Adwick washland in Bolton-on-Dearne. The new wetland will be an important link in the chain of wetlands down the valley, providing a valuable amenity for local people and habitat for the bird species found in the area such as lapwing, snipe and redshank.
The DVGH Partnership is working closely with the three local authorities of Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster to increase access to the natural environment through a network of cycling and walking routes to enable local communities to enjoy the natural environment and make more active travel choices for leisure and utilitarian journeys. Together with Barnsley MBC, we have developed an off-road cycle route between Goldthorpe and Bolton-on-Dearne to encourage more people to take up active travel.
Dearne Valley Green Heart Project
Lower Aire Valley St Aidan's Project
Natural England are working towards a regeneration of the Aire Valley that fully realises the potential of the natural environment to provide a highly attractive place that people aspire to live and work in. As part of this we would like to see the Aire Valley become a place with a low carbon footprint and a more environmentally sustainable identity, helping raise the profile of the area and encourage economic investment. The Aire Valley corridor provides health benefits for local residents and through our engagement in the spatial planning and development management processes we hope to encourage best practice for building design and better GI linkages.
We are engaged with a number of partnerships to promote a future for the area that is environmentally sustainable in its use of resources, generates investment for a future and creates happy and healthy communities where people are engaged with their natural environment on a daily basis. Working with RSPB, Environment Agency and Leeds City Council Natural England has supported the creation of the St Aidan’s site to provide habitats for birds and an important flood storage role. The river corridor has been identified within one of the region’s priority landscape areas and will be a focus for conservation work over the next five years, both from Natural England and our partners in the Yorkshire & Humber Biodiversity Partnership.
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Yorkshire and the Humber Green Infrastructure Mapping Project
Find out more about Natural England's Green Infrastructure Mapping Project and how it is helping us and our partners.
