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undermining the shared rationale of the Park. The
engagement of senior officers and members,
hitherto one of the Park’s strengths, was inevitably
diminishing.
Although the existence of the Park was clearly
valued by existing members and other external
stakeholders, other competing priorities in delivering
public services meant that it was disappearing off
the policy agenda. And what it was able to offer to
its visitors was falling short of what is expected in
the 21st century.
In spite of being in existence for over 40 years,
there had always been a significant mis-match
between the level of investment needed to fulfil the
vision and what was available in reality; there was
no mechanism for securing compensatory benefit
from even major infrastructure, such as construction
of the M25 and M40 motorways, let alone smaller
developments that were impacting on the Park’s
amenity value.
of a woodland burial park to jointly address these
realities. Supported by Natural England and chaired
by its Director for London and the South East, Alan
Law, it overwhelmingly endorsed the benefits that
green infrastructure can deliver and what specifically
could be done in the Colne Valley context.
Among the key learning points were:
● Good solutions depend on local people caring
enough about what happens ‘on their doorsteps’ –
widening stakeholding and leadership is essential.
● There is too much unproductive land.
Enforcement of Green Belt policy has resisted
some inappropriate development, but in itself has
not been a catalyst for positive change.
● The extent of volunteering related to management
of the Park and its landscape – including an active
‘Friends’ organisation – was already huge (over
3,000 days equivalent, representing a value of
some £160,000 per annum), but supporting this
doesn’t come for free.
Left
‘It is clear that the
Colne Valley has
lost out over the
years in terms of
compensation for
the detrimental
impact of
developments
that have taken
place’
Overall, URBED concluded that there were three
principal strategic directions for taking things forward:
● through voluntary initiative and catalysing social
enterprise;
● through public-private partnerships; and
● through utilising local authority powers and assets
more proactively.
In practice, a combination of these features would
need to be brought to bear.
Having created the mood and context for change,
Groundwork and URBED jointly organised a
symposium designed to maintain the momentum
and start the process of drawing-in new ideas,
partners and investment. In February 2011, over 60
participants from the public, private and voluntary
sectors, as well as individual landowners, spent a
day in the inspiring (if slightly unusual) surroundings
● There was a need to make more overt
connections between social and economic as well
as the more obvious environmental goals.
● Investment in green infrastructure does itself
create value through uplift in land values, but
there is no mechanism for capturing and reinvesting
this in the public realm.
From all this analysis, solutions are emerging that
members of the Colne Valley Partnership can act
upon, and which might also provide pointers of help
to others in similar circumstances:
● Being ‘fit-for-purpose’ in the 21st century: In
the 1960s and 1970s the Colne Valley was viewed
exclusively in terms of its potential to provide
opportunities for public access and recreation and
to resist urbanisation. Now, an understanding of
the more holistic benefits of green infrastructure –
296 Town & Country Planning June 2011 : GRaBS Project – INTERREG IVC; ERDF-funded