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Recreation & leisure Climate change adaptation & mitigation Flood alleviation & management Products from the land Quality of place Tourism Green infrastructure interventions Health & well-being Above The Framework for Action document Economic growth & investment Land & property values Productivity Land & biodiversity Left Fig. 1 The Natural Economy Northwest programme grouped the economic benefits provided by green infrastructure into 11 categories 7 facilities, parks, public and private gardens, street trees, woodlands, and water bodies and courses. Green infrastructure makes a substantial contribution towards climate change adaptation and a limited yet important contribution towards mitigation. 12 In this respect, the services that it provides include: managing surface water, river and coastal flooding; managing high temperatures; carbon storage and sequestration; food production; material substitution and providing low-carbon fuels; reducing the need to travel by car; helping other species to adapt; managing visitor pressure; reducing soil erosion; and managing water resources. A Framework for Action Green Infrastructure to Combat Climate Change: A Framework for Action 13 is a guidance document to aid policy development and delivery on this issue in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Merseyside. It sets out a number of actions, potential partners and mechanisms to deliver a vision of ‘Green infrastructure… planned, designed, and managed by all relevant stakeholders, involving and engaging local communities, in order to combat climate change and deliver other economic, social and environmental benefits. All opportunities are taken to safeguard, create, enhance, maintain and promote green infrastructure in ways that optimise the climate change adaptation and mitigation services it provides.’ The Framework for Action has been in development since 2007 through the Northwest Climate Change Action Plan, 14 with support from the GRaBS project. Community Forests Northwest was commissioned to develop the Framework by the Northwest Regional Development Agency on behalf of the Northwest Climate Change Partnership. Initial support for the Framework for Action came from the then Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies for the North West (both of 2006). It was intended that the emerging integrated Regional Strategy (which was to be published in 2010) would mandate the Northwest Climate Change Action Plan and support the development of green infrastructure plans and delivery in the region. This, in theory at least, would have then cascaded down to delivery at local levels, through inclusion in Local Development Frameworks and the potential provision of funds. However, as the development of the Framework for Action has coincided with the removal of the regional tier of planning and changes to the national planning system, there is currently no clear mandate for it. The Framework for Action was consulted on in 2010, in a process that proved invaluable at a time of change and restructuring. It indicated that there remains a strong recognition of the long-term importance of using green infrastructure to combat climate change; that there is an ongoing need to work across administrative boundaries to address many of the issues (and hence that pan-authority or sub-regional partnerships will be important); and that there is value in the information gathered within the Framework to inform delivery by local stakeholders. The Framework should be delivered by a range of organisations and professions at pan-authority, 278 Town & Country Planning June 2011 : GRaBS Project – INTERREG IVC; ERDF-funded
district, and neighbourhood levels – with the best results achieved when delivery takes place across these three levels. However, with no clear mandate for delivery at these levels, one approach is to find ‘champions’ – dedicated individuals or organisations who see it as part of their remit or responsibility – to encourage uptake of the Framework and its inclusion within plans and implementation in their areas. This will ensure that this important agenda and the wealth of information gathered so far is not overlooked. Without such champions, it will be difficult to embed the Framework across these levels, and delivery is likely to be piecemeal. Who is best to placed to champion the Framework for Action? The short answer is: anyone who wants to be! Over recent years, there has been significant green infrastructure development and planning across the North West. This has, to date, been championed by individuals across a range of organisations, including government agencies such as Natural England, the Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission, local authorities, non-governmental organisations, and academic institutions. The region’s Community Forests, the Mersey Forest and Red Rose Forest, have played a key role in developing and delivering the agenda. These organisations should play an important role in championing the ongoing delivery of the Framework for Action. A range of components, each with different remits and members, facilitate this approach (see Table 1). 15 Each sub-region has also been undertaking green infrastructure development and planning activity of their own. This has been different in each case, but generally each has a green infrastructure partnership or group which has been championing policy development and delivery in their areas. In most cases, this has included working towards their own green infrastructure frameworks or strategies. The sub-regional green infrastructure partnerships would therefore appear to be potential champions for the Framework for Action in their areas; but it will be entirely up to sub-regional actors to determine the extent to which they will embed the actions in the Framework into their own structures, frameworks and strategies. The sub-regional green infrastructure partnerships could also be responsible for co-ordinating champions within the local authorities in their area, so as to get suitable actions embedded within Local Development Frameworks and other local plans and strategies. Prompted by the inclusion of a policy (EM3) on green infrastructure in the Regional Spatial Strategy of 2006, many local authorities have already built green infrastructure policies into their Local Development Frameworks, and these will continue to be taken forward. These local authorities Table 1 Components in the partnership approach to developing the green infrastructure agenda in the North West of England Component Unit Think-tank Steering group Forum Investment forum Website* * At www.ginw.org.uk Role of component Co-ordinates activity and acts as a task and finish group to take forward the green infrastructure agenda Engages academics and consultants as well as the public sector in discussion to resolve key issues and take the agenda forward on a sound evidence and logic base Draws together key organisations and agencies to develop and influence strategies and practices Brings together partner organisations from all sectors and sub-regions to share information and exchange best practice Assists partners in gaining maximum alignment and coherence in their investment decisions, including joint working on funding bids Acts as a repository for reports, presentations, and other information could be champions of green infrastructure delivery at this level. Champions within local authorities would then, in turn, be responsible for championing the Framework within their neighbourhoods and trying to embed it in Neighbourhood Plans. Embedding the thinking across different levels As mentioned above, the Framework for Action was developed alongside other green infrastructure activity. It is intended to be used by others to strengthen climate change aspects of broader green infrastructure plans and strategies, as well as to strengthen green infrastructure aspects of broader climate change plans and strategies. The examples below show how this is beginning to take place across pan-authority, district, and neighbourhood levels. Pan-authority level The emerging Liverpool City Region Green Infrastructure Framework is being developed by the Mersey Forest and is mandated by the Environment and Waste Board, a sub-group of the City Region Board, as an issue requiring co-ordinated activity Town & Country Planning June 2011 : GRaBS Project – INTERREG IVC; ERDF-funded 279
Page 1 and 2: The Journal of the Town and Country
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