New Local Plan - Issues & Options (Regulation 18)

20. Local Green Spaces

20.1 Open spaces with a local significance for communities can be protected through the Local Green Space designation. National planning policy specifies that Local Green Space can be designated through the local and neighbourhood plan making process. For an area to be designated as Local Green Space an assessment needs to be carried out to determine whether the site meets the criteria set out in national planning policy.

20.2 The NPPF states that the Local Green Space designation should only be used where the green space is:

• in reasonably close proximity to the community it serves;
• demonstrably special to a local community and holds a particular local significance, for example because of its beauty, historic significance, recreational value (including as a playing field), tranquillity or richness of its wildlife; and
• local in character and is not an extensive tract of land.

20.3 An assessment of Local Green Spaces may be carried out to update the previous study that was carried out in 2013.

20.4 Currently there are 36 Local Green Spaces designated in the adopted Local Plan. In addition, there are 143 Local Green Spaces designated in Neighbourhood Plans. The neighbourhood planning process has given local communities the opportunity to identify Local Green Spaces and prepare policies that preserve and enhance them.

Local Green Space