Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) considered a Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) on the draft Green Space Strategy, attached as an Appendix to the Note.

Evidence demonstrated how the City’s Green Spaces including parks, recreation grounds, playing fields, children's playgrounds, ornamental gardens, golf courses, and woodlands, directly contributed to people's health and wellbeing. They help create thriving communities providing significant them with opportunities to develop and enhance their social, recreational, environmental, educational and economic wellbeing.

The importance of Councils developing a strategy for greenspaces was  recognised and promoted as good practice by a number of bodies including The Design Council (formally CABE Space) and Mayor of London's Open Space Strategies Best Practice Guidance. Social and demographic changes, reductions in government spending and budgets affecting parks and open spaces along with environmental changes such as the impacts of global warming and the strains on wildlife, policy changes and changes in greenspace provision, meant that the city was in a different place to that of 10 years ago. The role and importance of greenspace was increasing, and it needed to meet the changing needs and demands placed on it and provide value and benefit to the community into the future.

Through its action plan, the Greenspace Strategy adopted by the City Council in 2008 for a period of 10 years, delivered significant achievements. These included an increases in customer satisfaction with the city’s greenspaces and in the number of voluntary groups supporting parks, the achievement of 6 national awards, the establishment of successful partnerships, improvement made to over 60 park sites, an increase in sites designated as important to wildlife, the production of management and maintenance plans and success in obtaining external income. The 2019 - 2024 Strategy builds on those achievements setting the scene for the management and development of our greenspaces over the next 5 years.

The revised strategy has been developed through stages, including: Policy Review; An assessment of greenspace quality, quantity and accessibility; Stakeholder Consultation; Analysis and Evaluation; and recommendations and Action Plan.

The Strategy presented key recommendations which sought to:

•  Ensure parks remained safe and vibrant spaces to visit, supporting community use and made an important contribution to the delivery of the City of Culture programme.

•    Address barriers to use and encourage greater usage and value through   the better reporting and recording of anti-social behaviour including issues relating to the management and maintenance of greenspaces and dog fouling and control.

•  Increase park use, promoting greenspace as venues for activities, developing event and activity programmes, creating community hubs and community champions and provide facilities that appeal to all sections of the community.

•  Address deficiencies in the quality, quantity and accessibility of greenspace and playing pitch provision through the adoption of local standards, improve community access to education facilities, increase provision for young people.

•  Address deficiencies in greenspace and quality of facilities through the development of local standards and measure changes delivered through the strategy.

•  Establish effective partnerships to safeguard and enhance biodiversity assets, promote and improve access to green corridors and canals and associated features, creation of flower rich habitats which support invertebrates and implemented the Council’s Tree Strategy.

•  Support and work with Friends and other voluntary community groups. Fostering the development of new groups and assisting with community led events, securing external funding and opportunities for community asset transfers.

•  Maintain the existing Green Flag Awards and continue to develop management and maintenance plans for greenspaces improving biodiversity and accessibility to greenspace.

•  Establish a robust framework to secure developer contributions to maintain and improve greenspace and to explore diverse external funding streams to increase income.

A five-year action plan had been produced which would enable the identification of priorities and progress on the implementation and delivery of the strategy to be monitored and tracked. The action plan was included with the Strategy.

The Board also considered a Briefing Note, that was tabled at the meeting, that informed Members of the recommendations from the Green Space Strategy Task and Finish Group on the Draft Green Space Strategy.

The Board questioned officers and discussed the need to ensure that the City Council claimed Community Infrastructure Levy and 106 monies associated with developments, in particular for those that were located in the City Centre and for student accommodation.

The Board agreed that the Green Space Strategy Task and Finish Group continue to meet to consider the Green Space Developer Contributions Supplementary Planning document on Green Space Development Contributions.

RESOLVED that the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3):

1.  Agrees the recommendations of the Green Space Strategy Task and Finish Group to:

a)  Endorse the approach to green spaces in the city as proposed in the draft Green Space Strategy.

b)  Recommend to Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities that the Green Space Strategy addresses the following before it is presented to Cabinet for approval:

i.  That the Council should be ambitious in its approach to Green Flag status and look to expand the number of parks awarded, encouraging the local community to be actively involved

ii.  Strengthen the link to an emerging Climate Change Strategy and how the Green Space Strategy can support Coventry reducing its carbon foot print

iii.  Strengthen the link to the Council’s Biodiversity Strategy

iv.  Emphasise accessibility in parks, such as circular routes round parks to encourage walking.

v.  The strategy should contain a clear definition of a "green space"

vi.  The role of the canal as a "blue corridor" in the strategy to be further highlighted (recommendation 34)

vii.  Recommendations 40 – 45 should include providing training to volunteers

viii.  Consider an aspiration for planting a tree for every citizen in the city. This should be linked in with other planting schemes such as the 550 trees for Guru Nanak anniversary and in line with the Climate Change strategy.

ix.  Recommendations contained in the strategy should be included as part of the Executive Summary as well as distributed through the report.

x.  Schools should be encouraged to develop green spaces in line with the strategy. There should be stronger links with schools and Friends organisations, including parents.

c)  Recommend to the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills that there should be a green space map of all Coventry schools developed to support recommendation 1)b) x above.

d)  Support Recommendation 8 in the draft Green Space Strategy regarding the development of a Park Watch scheme and add this to the Board’s Work Programme.

e)  Green Space Developer Contributions Supplementary Planning document on Green Space Development Contributions to be considered by the Green Space Strategy Task and Finish Group and a report submitted to the Board in due course.