Breadcrumbs
The Countryside In and Around Towns: guidance and practice
We have devised a host of tools and techniques and methods of approach that can be deployed to help unlock the potential of the countryside in and around towns and support sustainable development in the Growth Areas and New Growth Point and in the "fringe" landscapes across the country. Many of these tools and techniques have been collected together here to provide you with this easily accessible Urban Fringe Toolkit.
The Urban Fringe Toolkit
Introduction:
This document has been prepared using a range of ‘tools’ and techniques that are appropriate for use in the Growth Areas and the new Growth Points, as well as the countryside in and around towns and urban areas. It is therefore intended to bring together disparate streams of work that can help provide examples to illustrate their application in a variety of different situations, and not just where new development is planned.
Some of the techniques described are not ‘tools’ as such, but outline statutory documents of key importance – such as Local Transport Plans, or are successful initiatives such as the Community Forests. Other examples come from research reports that have been found to be particularly useful for work in the field by Natural England staff.
The tools outlined are applicable at a variety of levels. This reflects the range of challenges and opportunities that are likely within the Growth Areas and Growth Points, as well as the need to reflect regional and local distinctiveness. Outside the Growth Areas and in the Pathfinder areas there will also be a need for generic solutions relating to urban regeneration.
Some of the tools provide essentially strategic direction such as Green Infrastructure and Landscape Character Assessment, while others such as Concept Statements and Village Design Statements are more applicable at a local level. All offer the opportunity to incorporate the widened remit of Natural England and to engage with community groups, developers and local authority planners.
1. Using regional and sub-regional planning processes in relation to the urban fringe
2. Community level planning in and around settlements
3. Green infrastructure - linking town and country and underpinning sustainable development
4. Control and use of land in and around urban areas
5. Sustainable urban fringe agriculture
6. Geodiversity and Biodiversity
7. Multifunctionality in the urban fringe (167kb pdf)
8. Access
10. Sustainable energy (213kb pdf)
11. List of publications (376kb pdf)
