Testun llawn:
In general I would support the revised development strategy and welcome the inclusion of specific provision for a country park to the south of Leamington.
However, the remaining comments on green infrastructure (GI) are vague and weak and need considerable strengthening. GI is broader than the concept of open space within the Council's Open Spaces Supplementary Planning Document and that document should not be relied upon to define standards of GI expected in growth areas. GI should be integral to any design, not a bolt on. The Local Plan should seek to spell out expectations for GI and it's design.
Areas that particularly need stressing that are largely absent from the present document include
* the ways in which different elements of GI relate to each other, creating networks and corridors of green space, allowing people to move by sustainable, health promoting means within a semi-natural environment and allowing movement of wildlife. The relationship between elements of GI and the networks created are far more important than simplistic quantity standards, but it is very difficult to create these networks later. When making new green field allocations the requirement of well planned, interconnected GI should be explicit.
* the importance of urban tree planting as a vital structural element of GI. Urban trees have significant benefits in terms of mitigating climate change (cooling the urban heat island by both shading and
evapo-traspiration) [1,2], rainfall interception [3], cleaner air [4,5], residents' sense of social wellbeing [6], economic activity [7], crime levels [8] and more [9]. They are increasingly difficult to 'retrofit'
and should be designed in to new development. The Local Plan should be explicit in expecting integration of grey infrastructure with green. In particular there should be a clear requirement that major thoroughfares and a significant proportion of smaller roads be tree lined, and that all new surface car parks be planted so as to eventually provide a closed canopy (car parks being an area that allows large spreading trees). Integration of grey and green infrastructure will require that grey infrastructure is constructed so as to provide a suitable environment for trees and other GI elements to flourish. As the benefits associated with trees are greater with large spreading species, these should be favoured.