Green Infrastructure
To create sustainable new communities every aspect of the local environment must be considered. Green spaces, officially known as Green Infrastructure, are vital to the quality of life of both new and existing residents in Cambridgeshire, which is why Cambridgeshire Horizons has helped create a Green Vision for the County.
The Cambridgeshire Green Vision, a Green Infrastructure Strategy for the County, is a 20-year masterplan to enhance the natural environment for both residents and wildlife.
Over the next 20 years the population of Cambridgeshire is expected to grow by 130,000 people. In addition to homes and jobs, residents will also need places to relax, enjoy the outdoors, and communal spaces where they can feel part of the local community.
Working in partnership, Cambridgeshire Horizons, the six local authorities, English Heritage, Environment Agency, National Trust, Forestry Commission England, Natural England, Cambridge Preservation Society, and the Wildlife Trust, along with other organisations, have produced a strategic plan for the development of green spaces throughout the county, known as the Green Vision.
Green Infrastructure includes:
- Green corridors, such as hedgerows, ditches, rivers and watercourses, disused railway lines and verges
- Commons, village greens, churchyards and cemeteries
- Natural and semi-natural habitats for wildlife
- Country parks and playing fields
- Woodlands and hedgerows
- Historic parks and gardens, historic landscapes and ancient monuments
- Local Nature Reserves and County Wildlife Sites
- Sites of Special Scientific Interest
- Wetlands, including flooded quarries
- Allotments
- Public rights of way, cycleways and other recreational routes
A review of the Green Infrastructure Strategy is underway, and a public consultation took place between 25th January and 7th March. Find out more
here.
Read more about the benefits of
green infrastructure and the
Green Infrastructure Strategy, and also click here to read the latest version of
Green Vision News.
The
Full Technical Report from 2006 is now available online.