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across administrative boundaries, with implications for the economic success, quality of life and sustainable development of the City Region. Jim Wilkie, Chief Executive of Wirral Council, one of the Liverpool City Region local authorities, has said that the Framework for Action ‘is an important piece of work for us. Organisations across Merseyside can use this Framework to guide and co-ordinate their actions in order to face up to the challenges of climate change.’ The Liverpool City Region Green Infrastructure Framework has six priorities: ● setting the scene for growth; ● supporting health and well-being; ● providing recreation, leisure and tourism; ● developing the rural economy; ● supporting adaptation to climate change; and ● enhancing the ecological framework It will make direct reference to the Framework for Action, focusing on the climate change services provided by green infrastructure of most relevance to the Liverpool City Region, and actions within it identified as requiring pan-authority delivery. For example, in the Framework for Action, action 5b is concerned with managing the upper catchments of rivers to reduce flood risk while delivering other services; this has been identified as an issue for pan-authority delivery as rivers cross administrative boundaries. District level Liverpool City Council also has its own Green Infrastructure Strategy (of 2010), 16 commissioned from the Mersey Forest by Liverpool City Council Planning Business Unit and Liverpool Primary Care Trust. This has a wider focus than climate change, which is one of five priorities: ● a sustainable city; ● a city providing natural choices for health; ● a cool city; ● a green and biodiverse city; and ● a city where green infrastructure is well-planned. Councillor Tim Moore, Liverpool’s Cabinet member for environment and climate change, has said: ‘This is an innovative and important report which has the potential to influence the way we think about the green assets of all our cities, and how they can be used to reduce the effects of a changing climate, and make the city a better place to live, work, invest and enjoy life.’ The actions focus on influencing the planning and health sectors in particular. Within the ‘cool city’ priority, mapping demonstrates where existing green infrastructure is especially important for combating climate change, and where interventions to create new or enhance existing green infrastructure could be especially important. Ten actions are set out for this priority, covering issues such as reducing urban heat, encouraging sustainable drainage systems, green roofs and increased tree cover, and sustainably sourcing irrigation water to ensure that green infrastructure provides evaporative cooling during droughts. Owing to the cross-cutting nature of the climate change priority, a number of actions relevant to climate change are also set out under different priorities. The Green Infrastructure Strategy was developed alongside the Framework for Action, and so is informed by similar thinking and actions. ‘With no clear mandate for delivery at pan-authority, district, and neighbourhood levels, one approach is to find ‘champions’ to encourage uptake of the Framework’ Neighbourhood level RopeWalks is an historic area in Liverpool city centre, containing buildings from the late 1700s and early 1800s associated with trades linked to the docks and lying, in part, within the World Heritage Site. Redevelopment and investment in the area provides an opportunity to incorporate green infrastructure to address some of the issues raised in Liverpool’s Green Infrastructure Strategy and add value to the area (see Fig. 2). The expanding creative industries sector in the area also offers an opportunity to explore new approaches to green infrastructure delivery and celebrate the area’s unique character by engaging with a variety of organisations and residents groups. The mapping undertaken for Liverpool’s Green Infrastructure Strategy has shown that, among other issues, there is a need to address climate change adaptation in the area. Matt Biagetti, Senior Development Manager at Liverpool Vision, has said: ‘Green infrastructure will be a crucial aspect in the continuing regeneration of RopeWalks. We intend to use the Liverpool Green Infrastructure Strategy and the Framework for Action as a starting point to guide green infrastructure delivery so that we can maximise its benefits – including for climate change adaptation, as well as encouraging more animation and activity in our spaces, encouraging community involvement, and visually enhancing the local environment.’ Conclusion Using green infrastructure has been identified as a ‘win-win’ approach to combating climate change. In the North West of England, Green Infrastructure to Combat Climate Change: A Framework for Action 280 Town & Country Planning June 2011 : GRaBS Project – INTERREG IVC; ERDF-funded
Above Fig. 2 Visualisations of the RopeWalks area of Liverpool – images such as these will be used to engage stakeholders and local communities on potential green infrastructure improvements sets out guidance to aid policy development and delivery on this issue. Although there is no clear mandate for the delivery of the Framework in the wake of the removal of the regional tier of planning and changes to the national planning system, there remains a strong recognition of the importance of this agenda and of the value of the information gathered for local delivery – and of the need to work across administrative boundaries. Finding champions to take forward this agenda may be crucial – without them delivery is likely to be piecemeal. ● Dr Susannah Gill is Green Infrastructure Planning Officer with The Mersey Forest, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. She was a member of the team commissioned by Northwest Regional Development Agency (a GRaBS project partner), on behalf of the Northwest Climate Change Partnership, to work on the GRaBS project in the North West of England, which included producing Green Infrastructure to Combat Climate Change: A Framework for Action in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, and Lancashire, and Merseyside. The views expressed here are personal. Notes 1 Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007. www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf 2 The Economics of Climate Change. Report of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. Cabinet Office/HM Treasury, 2006 (Cambridge University Press, 2007). www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sternreview_index.htm 3 Economic Impacts of Increased Flood Risk Associated with Climate Change in the North West. URS, for Northwest Regional Development Agency, Sept. 2009. www.climatechangenorthwest.co.uk/assets/_files/ documents/oct_09/cli__1256311710_URS_Ecoimpact_ report_ finalOct2.pdf – figures from the study are based on an assumption of flood defences maintained at current levels, with a 20% increase in river flows by 2100 4 How Well Prepared is the UK for Climate Change? First Report of the Adaptation Sub-Committee, Committee on Climate Change, Sept. 2010. www.theccc.org.uk/reports/adaptation 5 Planning for Climate Change – Guidance and Model Policies for Local Authorities. Planning and Climate Change Coalition. TCPA, Nov. 2010. www.tcpa.org.uk/ pages/planning-for-climate-change-guide.html (winner of a Royal Town Planning Institute Planning Award, 2010) 6 Benefits of Green Infrastructure. Report to Defra and DCLG. Forest Research, Oct. 2010. www.forestresearch.gov.uk/fr/INFD-8A9A2W; and ‘Green infrastructure’. Sustainable Places webpage. Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, 2009. www.cabe.org.uk/sustainableplaces/green-infrastructure 7 The Economic Value of Green Infrastructure. Natural Economy Northwest programme. Natural England/ Northwest Regional Development Agency/SITA Trust, 2009. www.nwda.co.uk/PDF/EconomicValueof GreenInfrastructure.pdf 8 Green Infrastructure Valuation Toolkit – available at www.bit.ly/givaluationtoolkit 9 Green Infrastructure Valuation Toolbox – Value for Money Test. GENECON for Green Infrastructure Northwest. www.merseyforest.org.uk/files/ LKQ VFM test - GENECON.doc 10 North West Green Infrastructure Guide. North West Green Infrastructure Think Tank, 2008. www.ginw.co.uk/resources/GIguide.pdf (winner of a Royal Town Planning Institute Planning Award, 2008) 11 Green Infrastructure Prospectus. Natural Economy Northwest. Jan. 2010. www.ginw.co.uk/resources/Prospectus_V6.pdf 12 Green Infrastructure: How and Where Can it Help the Northwest Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Change? Part of the Northwest Climate Change Action Plan/GRaBS project. Community Forests Northwest et al., Jun. 2010. www.ginw.co.uk/climatechange/report 13 Green Infrastructure to Combat Climate Change: A Framework for Action in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Merseyside. Community Forests Northwest, for the Northwest Climate Change Partnership, Mar. 2011. www.ginw.co.uk/climatechange/framework 14 Rising to the Challenge: A Climate Change Action Plan for England’s North West 2010-2012. Climate Change Northwest. Northwest Regional Development Agency et al., 2010. www.climatechangenorthwest.co.uk/assets/_ files/documents/feb_10/cli__1265921054_NW_Climate_ Change_Action_Plan.pdf – see www.climatechangenorthwest.co.uk/1611/ adaptation.html for updates on the actions 15 At www.ginw.co.uk 16 See www.ginw.co.uk/liverpool Town & Country Planning June 2011 : GRaBS Project – INTERREG IVC; ERDF-funded 281
Page 1 and 2: The Journal of the Town and Country
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