Dudley Council

Part One: Spatial Strategy and Policies (Regulation 19)

Ends on 29 November 2024 (8 days remaining)

The Borough's Green Infrastructure Network

13.10. Dudley Borough has an extensive network of formal and informal greenspaces including areas of Green Belt, Green Wedges, designated nature conservation sites including Fens Pool Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) and Sites of Local Importance for Nature Conservation (SLINCs).

Policy DLP51 Dudley Borough's Green Infrastructure Network Comment

  1. The Green Network constitutes Dudley Borough's strategic Green Infrastructure, and comprises the following designations and sites shown on the Policies Map:
    1. Green Belt/Green Wedges
    2. Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)
    3. Linear Open Space areas
    4. areas of designated nature conservation and geological value including Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Local and National Nature Reserves (LNR/NNR), Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and Sites of Local Importance for Nature Conservation (SLINC)
    5. Accessible Natural Greenspace
    6. other formal and informal open space areas
    7. Wildlife Corridors
    8. Existing or proposed linking areas of townscape or landscape
    9. Canals and watercourses particularly the River Stour and its tributaries
    10. Railway corridors
  2. While certain sections of the Green Network will, depending on their inherent value or potential, have a focus on a particular open space/nature conservation aspect, overall, the network has a multi-functional role as:
    1. a wildlife corridor, to provide coherent ecological networks.
    2. accommodating pedestrian and cycle paths, particularly in linking the urban area with the Green Belt and open countryside as well as linking towns and places of employment with residential communities.
    3. providing opportunities for informal recreation.
    4. helping to form a break between locally distinct areas and centres.
    5. grazing land for horses and other livestock.
    6. a means of maintaining the integrity of water courses across the borough as well as enhancing the natural value and restoration of water courses including de-culverting where opportunities arise.
  3. All development proposals except householder applications, falling within or adjoining, the Green Network need to demonstrate how the proposal:
    1. complies with the aims and role of the Green Network.
    2. enhances or adds value to the Green Network, particularly in providing green infrastructure which would strengthen the network or greening sections of the network where such infrastructure is absent.
    3. shall have a design and layout which would complement and enhance the intended functions of the network. This includes strengthening and supporting existing wildlife corridors through habitat creation and restoration and providing opportunities for outdoor recreation, such as walking and cycling to promote healthy lifestyles and provide an alternative to help reduce congestion and improve air quality throughout the borough.
  4. The Green Network shall have a minimum width of 15 metres unless it is satisfactorily demonstrated to be unachievable. Any proposed development which has the effect of narrowing the corridor below this threshold will not normally be supported.
  5. Wherever possible, all sections of the Green Network shall seek to accommodate a footpath and cycleway which, when combined, shall be no less than 3.3 metres in width. The layout and route of such paths will be influenced by the nature of the network particularly to avoid any undesirable impact on habitats however the requirement will be to achieve a coherent, linked network of paths and cycleways.
  6. Where existing townscape forms part of the Green Network and it is satisfactorily demonstrated that there are limited opportunities to provide a linking area of open space, Dudley Council will seek alternative means of providing continuous green linkages within developments, for example, through the provision of green roofs and green walls, street trees and boulevards. Any provision should not prejudice the character and distinctiveness of the local environment.
Justification

13.11. Green Infrastructure performs a variety of functions including the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity as well as providing space for informal and formal recreation. Green infrastructure can include parks and gardens, natural and semi-natural urban green spaces, green corridors, outdoor sports facilities, allotments, cemeteries and churchyards, rivers and canal corridors.

13.12. Due to the importance of Dudley's Green Network it is required that all developments falling within it or adjacent to it, provide a Green Network Impact Statement as part of a Design and Access Statement, which would, in particular, provide proposals as to how the integrity and connectivity of the affected area of the Green Network would not be prejudiced, and how the proposal would respond to, and, in particular, strengthen the relevant section of the Green Network.

13.13. To emphasise the importance of Dudley's Green Network and ensure its delivery, by specifying a minimum width of the corridor (15 Metres), recognised as being the minimum to sustain a meaningful and effective wildlife corridor, which development proposals should maintain.

13.14. There is a need to provide connectivity within the Green Network, including where there is severance, particularly through the layout of proposed development, and that, in some instances, where the designated Green Network runs through the existing built environment, alternative means of ensuring connectivity by the implementation of, for example, Green Roof, Green Walls, Street Trees and the creation of boulevards.

13.15. As the Green Network brings together a number of planning designations under a single "umbrella" (for example Green Belt and sites of acknowledged nature conservation value), it is important to recognise that this does not exempt development from addressing and responding to those other designations: the need for development to respond to its inclusion in, or adjacency to, the Green Network being an additional requirement.

13.16. In 2023 Natural England published guidance on the delivery and enhancement of green infrastructure[61]. A key resource for developers and local planning authorities, the framework integrates green infrastructure tools, principles, standards and design guidance. It is structured through five key standards, addressing:

  • urban nature recovery;
  • an urban greening factor;
  • an urban tree canopy cover standard;
  • accessible greenspace standards; and
  • a green infrastructure strategy.

13.17. Through the Local Plan many of these areas are addressed, relevant plan policies include those on SuDs, Canals, Design, Biodiversity Net Gain and Local Nature Recovery Strategies, as well as Open Space, and climate change mitigation, which address nature recovery and urban greening. Polices on trees and hedgerow policies address urban tree canopy cover. Access to green and open spaces are addressed through the Open Space Audit evidence base.

13.18. The National Trust are developing proposals for the creation of 8 Hills Regional Park, a c.50 square mile regional park which aims to enhance and prioritise the landscape in the south of the West Midlands conurbation, whilst increasing people's access to it and boosting its biodiversity and ecological connectivity. The areas proposed to be included within Dudley are: Areas to the West of the M5 and south of Manor Way (A456); Land at Wychbury Hill – stretching to Pedmore; and Land to the East of Wollescote. This proposal will assist in strengthening the boroughs green infrastructure network and promote cross boundary links into and out of Dudley.

[61] https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/GreenInfrastructure/Home.aspx

For instructions on how to use the system and make comments, please see our help guide.
back to top