Telford & Wrekin Council's Cabinet approval sought for Green Guarantee sites

The 104 sites have been identified following a consultation with Parish and Town Councils and local organisations.

The public consultation included an initial list of 116 sites. Six sites have been removed from the initial list because they are already covered by another designation protecting them from development or are currently in the designation process for another form of protection. Six further sites were combined with adjacent sites where they shared boundaries and were used and viewed by the community as a single site.

The 104 sites proposed for protection mean 407 hectares of land in Telford & Wrekin Council ownership which will be protected from development. This is a larger area than the original 116 sites which were subject to consultation. It is also in addition to sites already protected by other designations such as Local Nature Reserves, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Fields in Trust sites or Village Green.

Eight hectares of land was removed from the list since it will be protected under another mechanism and a larger area of land (around 10 hectares) was added to the Green Guarantee list as extensions to sites which were sought by respondents to the consultation.

The Green Guarantee, referred to in the Telford & Wrekin Local Plan, identifies a range of locally important green spaces owned by the Council which will help to safeguard these sites from development.

The Council will continue to look for opportunities to protect further sites through other programmes, such as Fields in Trust and Local Wildlife Site designation where appropriate.

A further 50 Community Green Spaces to be included in the Green Guarantee will be identified through public consultation later this year.

Councillor Richard Overton, cabinet member for Housing, Public Health and Protection, said: “Our Green Guarantee will ensure that we can protect from future development Council owned land that people use for their leisure and recreation.

“The Green Guarantee recognises the value of these areas for the provision of open space for people to enjoy and for biodiversity.

“Ensuring that we have open spaces people can use is important for our health in so many ways and this designation will protect these areas for future generations to enjoy.

“Living close to accessible and open green spaces helps tackle issues such as stress, obesity, heart disease and mental health as well as ensuring that our borough continues to have the facilities of a modern progressive town with many accessible green spaces.”

The report will be considered by the Council’s Cabinet on Thursday 24 March 2016.