Liveable Cities a Welsh Conservative White paper which calls for greater protection of green spaces in cities is welcomed by The Open Spaces Society, Britain’s oldest national conservation body.
The Welsh Conservative Party’s consultation paper Liveable Cities (see Executive summary below) shows its support for parks and green spaces and sustainable transport in cities a long held view of The Open Spaces Society.
In responding, the society has made some new proposals.
While it welcomes the paper’s recommendation that local authorities should be required to submit plans that highlight land which can be made into green spaces, it believes the policy should go further. The society calls for a legal duty on local authorities to manage and care for the parks and green spaces in their areas.
It also proposes that landowners should be urged voluntarily to dedicate land as town or village green, which protects it from development and gives local people a right of recreation there. Such a process can also be used to create permanent green space in mitigation for development.
Says Kate Ashbrook, the Open Spaces Society’s general secretary:
‘We believe that local authorities and developers should make far greater use of the opportunity provided by dedication of town and village greens to provide and protect vital green spaces in urban areas.’
Liveable Cities – A Strategy for Welsh Urban Renewal – Executive Summary
(Published by the Welsh Conservatives 2018)
This White Paper introduces 25 policy proposals to transform our urban environments. The policies are for the short, medium and long-term, and develop four key themes: Lifestyle, Transport, Housing and Design.
Some of the standout proposals are to:
- Make Cardiff the UK’s first Carbon Neutral Capital City.
- Pilot a city wide single-use plastics ban in Wales.
- Ensure that all commercial developments of over 1,000 m2 must have green roofing for at least 50% of the total roof area of the development.
- Publicly owned urban brownfield sites will be provided at a discount to develop Urban Eco Quarters – housing developments with shared gardens and which are high density, sustainable and provide for a mixture of tenures.
- Implement clean air zones in Newport, Swansea, Cardiff and Wrexham.
- Co-ordinate our urban policies so that more of Wales’ busiest streets can become pedestrian zones.
To learn more about The Open Spaces Society go to oss.org.uk
