KET10 Biodiversity & Green Infrastructure
Green and Blue Infrastructure is a term that covers a wide range of natural, ecological and recreational features, including parks, woodlands, water bodies, hedgerows, mature trees, lines of street trees, allotments etc that combine to create habitat networks. In urban areas like Kettering, they enable those networks to extend from the surrounding countryside into quite densely built-up areas, where open spaces and ecological value is more difficult to come by. All those features need to be mapped to show not just where they are but also to point to where the network may be improved to be better connected if land is developed or redeveloped.
The policy idea is to protect the existing green and blue infrastructure from harmful development and to encourage its improvement and better connectivity and habitat corridors.
Improvements could include the introduction of Pocket Parks, which can provide more accessible green spaces into the urban environment, enhancing the streetscape, or include a requirement for prescribed levels of tree canopy cover in new developments in both the town centre and in the remainder of the KNP area as well as other landscaping features. It could also promote the incorporation of habitat enhancement features in new developments, such as the inclusion of swift bricks and bird boxes.
The policy should also work in support of the local Nature Recovery Strategy