We're committed to developing a Green Infrastructure Strategy for York and are making good progress.
The Strategy will support policies in the Local Plan and the Council Plan, whilst also being a focus for partnership working across York. Consultants AMEC have been commissioned to help carry out the Green Infrastructure Strategy project in partnership with us.
The Strategy will establish a long term vision for the planning and management of Green Infrastructure across York, identifying where the protection and enhancement of green spaces and natural elements can be achieved, along with improvements in connectivity, and focal points for community and business involvement.
Green infrastructure
Green Infrastructure (GI) can be seen as a collection of assets which provide multiple functions and services to people, the economy and the environment. These assets are of a great variety and span various spatial scales and include:
- woodland
- watercourses
- highway verges and railway embankments
- parks, playgrounds, allotments and other public open spaces
- farmland and market gardens
- urban trees
- private gardens
- the grounds of hospitals, schools and business parks
- sport pitches and recreational areas
The function of green infrastructure
Green infrastructure performs multiple functions, some of the most important being:
- biodiversity and geodiversity – providing habitats for wildlife
- access and recreation – places for sports, play, walking and cycling
- health and wellbeing – supporting healthy lifestyles
- trees, woodland and forestry – woodland as a habitat, recreational and economic resource
- agriculture – providing food and other crops
- energy – providing an energy resource using biomass, hydro-electric and wind power
- landscape – helping to define the character of different types of landscape
- townscape – making towns and villages better places in which to live
- water management – water supply, quality and flood control
- economic development – supporting the economy by improving the image and 'liveability' of places
Green infrastructure strategy progress
We held a Green Infrastructure Forum in November 2014 with some of the region's leading groups in this field, including:
- Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
- Forestry Commission
- Environment Agency
- University of York
- Sustrans
- English Heritage
- other local conservation, ecological and biodiversity groups
We also held a series of stakeholder workshop sessions in January 2015. The outcomes of the forum and the workshops are enabling consultants AMEC to write the draft Green Infrastructure Strategy.