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We have expressed our fears for the future of open spaces in the government’s revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) published today (12 December 2024).
Town green in Witney, Oxfordshire, dedicated (with a new footpath) by developer Richmond Care Villages in 2020 as part of its new development, in return for the Open Spaces Society withdrawing its objection to a footpath diversion. Photo: Open Spaces Society
Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: ‘We called for legal protection and long-term maintenance of urban green space; standards for the amount of green space in development, and a duty on local authorities to ensure that everyone can enjoy good-quality, well-maintained and safe green space within 300 metres close to their homes.’
‘Green spaces are vital for the health and well-being of the nation. We believe the NPPF undervalues them.
‘The Local Green Space (LGS) designation is inadequate because the land only has the same protection as green belt and cannot be designated unless the neighbourhood or local plan is being prepared or updated. We called for the process for identifying LGS to be improved, and its protection strengthened to ensure it is not vulnerable to development. However, there is no change in the new NPPF—except that green belt is now even more vulnerable.
‘While there are some warm words that planning policies should protect and enhance public rights of way and access, and existing open spaces should not be built on, the practice—with planning authorities under immense pressure—is likely to be different. We don’t any see hard policies and directives to ensure that our vital open spaces are protected and enhanced.
‘Government appears to have given the cold shoulder to our proposal that, to increase the provision of permanent open space, developers should be mandated to provide such space and to register it as a town or village green. This would be a simple means of giving local people rights of recreation there and securing it for ever.
‘We shall continue to lobby to ensure that green spaces are at the heart of our planning system, for the benefit of all.’