Last updated: June 2024
The Sunderland Greenspace Audit explained the city's green space in detail and set guidelines and standards that will help to ensure that all areas of the city have a range of quality green spaces available to them. Hereby the Sunderland City Council wished to improve the green public spaces to retain existing residents and attract new ones, to enhance the image of the city and for it to be used as a means to attract future investment in the form of new shops and jobs (Ref 1).
Sunderland Greenspace Audit
Jill Laverick, retrieved 08/18/2018
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Blue infrastructure
- In-land wetlands, peatlands, swamps, and moors
- Community gardens and allotments
- Allotments
- Community gardens
- Green areas for water management
- Rain gardens
- Grey infrastructure featuring greens
- Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
- Railroad bank and track greens
- Riverbank/Lakeside greens
- House gardens
- Green parking lots
- Green playgrounds and school grounds
- Institutional green space
- Parks and urban forests
- Large urban parks or forests
- Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
- Botanical gardens
- Green corridors and green belts
Key challenges
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Habitat and biodiversity conservation
- Green space creation and/or management
- Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
- Preservation of natural heritage
- Protection of historic and cultural landscape/infrastructure
- Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
- Effective management
Focus
Maintenance and management of urban nature, Knowledge creation and awareness raising, Strategy, plan or policy development, Monitoring and maintenance of habitats and/or biodiversity
Project objectives
1. To provide a robust evidence base that can be referred to when decisions about greenspace management are taken in the city (specifically the Parks Management Strategy or Football Investment Strategy);
2. To map the quantity, quality and equality of access to green spaces in Sunderland;
3. To identify areas of green space deficiency measuring land ownership, biodiversity, types of buildings on the site, types of sports pitches, types of play facility and historic importance (Ref 1).
Implementation activities
Document the quantity, quality and accessibility of 13 types of greenspaces, organised based on neighbourhood, in Sunderland. In accordance with PPG17 criteria, surveyors visited and assessed all the various sites referred to in the typologies. The quantity, quality and value of each plot were appraised and a Pro-forma completed so far as was possible. All sites were then analysed in terms of consistency of approach by the Lead Officer. Sunderland’s Greenspace Audit has applied community value weightings to the final audit score wherever it was merited. (Ref 1).
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity conservation:
- Protect and enhance urban habitats
- Preserve and strengthen existing habitats and ecosystems
- Preserve and strengthen habitat connectivity
- Protect species
- Undertake specific measures to protect species
- Means for conservation governance
- Manage biological resources for conservation and sustainable use
- Create and use scientific knowledge for conservation
Main beneficiaries
- Local government/Municipality
- Citizens or community groups
Governance
Management set-up
- Government-led
Type of initiating organisation
- Local government/municipality
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The Greenspace audit is a project of the Strategy & Performance, economy and place department of the City of Sunderland (Ref 4).
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a national policy or strategy?
Yes
(1. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states that planning policies should be based on robust and up-to-date assessment of the needs for open space, specifically endorsing the concept of Green Infrastructure. The audit provides this. 2. The Rights of Way network access, for which well maintained off-road (green) infrastructure condition is important (Ref 1). )
... a local policy or strategy?
Yes
(1. The intervention explicitly states to be in support of the Local Development Framework Core Strategy, which in turn is informed by the NPPF (Ref 1). 2. The documentation refers to the Sunderland Green Infrastructure Strategy (Ref 2))
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Unknown
Type of funding
- Unknown
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
- Increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales
- Reduced biodiversity loss
- Increased number of species present
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Education
- Increased support for education and scientific research
- Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Yes
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
Yes
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No
References
Ref 1: Sunderland City Council. (2013). Sunderland greenspace audit and report 2012. (attached)
Ref 2: Sunderland Partnership. (2011). Green infrastructure strategy framework. (attached)
Ref 3: Sunderland City Council. (2009). Core strategy alternative approaches. (attached)
Ref 4: Sunderland City Council. (2012). Citywide Greenspace. available at Source link. accessed on 8th November, 2020.
Ref 5: Sunderland City Council. (2013). Greenspaces Consultation - Responses. (attached)
Ref 2: Sunderland Partnership. (2011). Green infrastructure strategy framework. (attached)
Ref 3: Sunderland City Council. (2009). Core strategy alternative approaches. (attached)
Ref 4: Sunderland City Council. (2012). Citywide Greenspace. available at Source link. accessed on 8th November, 2020.
Ref 5: Sunderland City Council. (2013). Greenspaces Consultation - Responses. (attached)