The following key sectors and interests should be considered for inclusion in GI planning:

• Public bodies and local authority departments - Highways, transport, drainage, water, public health and wellbeing, education, ecology, heritage, landscape, parks/public space, climate change, finance and planning
• Statutory consultees, statutory undertakers, utilities and trusts
• Businesses, commercial interests and representative organisations for industry and commerce
• Community representatives, user groups, non-statutory education sector
• Land and property owners
• In addition to the consultees listed above, stakeholders with a specific interest relative to the project or area

Adopting a partnership approach to GI policy and delivery should enable a wider range of benefits to be gained and potentially secure funding from a wider range of sources. Partnership working should also be more inclusive and be able to respond to the needs of less well represented groups. Adequate funding and support from the outset is likely to be required to achieve inclusivity. Raising the profile and importance of GI based solutions in this way should also create long term benefits in terms of knowledge sharing and innovation.

At a strategic level GI strategy and policy should:

• Use a partnership approach to establish a long-term vision for how green infrastructure will address core challenges
• Have an inclusive engagement and consultation strategy based on thorough stakeholder mapping
• Aim to strengthen communication networks to build knowledge sharing and joint outcomes
• Promote a GI approach to strategic outcomes in the policies of contributing organisations
• Provide information which promotes sustained involvement of stakeholders

Evidence can come in many forms but in relation to GI can generally be split between:

• Quantitative (e.g. population facts and figures, data on wildlife and habitats, maps of existing extent and location of GI, social statistics and trends, environmental targets, economic monitoring data, information on the economic and health value of GI)
• Qualitative (e.g. people’s survey responses, description of landscape character, condition surveys, drivers or policy needs)

To reflect the multi-functional nature of GI and to meet different people’s and biodiversity needs, it is important to combine evidence from a range of sources.

The breadth of evidence required to achieve good GI often means that organisations work in partnership providing strategic evidence from their particular specialism, followed by community and stakeholder engagement and supplemented with specific local evidence.

Ideally a strategic approach to evidence for comprehensively planned GI should be based around four key benefits:

1. Health and wellbeing
2. Thriving nature and biodiversity gains
3. Making places more resilient to climate change and helping to meet zero carbon targets
4. Adding value and supporting prosperous communities

Evidence on all these aspects is needed to plan GI well, not just in terms of current provision of these benefits and services but also future needs.

One key set of evidence is spatial mapping. Natural England has produced the first nationally consistent set of GI data and maps for organisations to use. This can be an invaluable starting point for identifying and strengthening strategic networks of GI and where to target GI interventions to meet local needs. This can be supplemented with local data.

This can work together with what has been the usual starting point for GI planning, collecting and collating evidence of GI assets such as parks and greenspaces. This tends to pull together information on the following:

• Quantity
• Quality
• Accessibility (proximity)
• Naturalness
• Functionality / Multiple benefits
• Distribution, Connectivity / networks of GI
• Landscape, Beauty, Sense of Place

Opportunity mapping for biodiversity is also increasing coming to the fore to provide the evidence for Biodiversity Net Gain along with data on health inequalities in order to target issues related to physical and mental wellbeing.

At a strategic level:

• Evidence should be used to establish a baseline for quantity and provision of GI in an area
• The current functions and benefits those assets are delivering should be identified
• The priorities and needs of communities should be mapped
• Evidence is developed to support conservation of assets currently providing important services
• Enhancement of those assets that could deliver better services is evidenced
• Creation of new assets in areas of identified deficiency is supported by evidence

At a local level:

• Where local evidence is insufficient to bring clarity, further data should be collected including community GI needs assessments
• Evidence should be provided in a format which can easily be understood by local communities

GI has a really important role in addressing needs, to ensure there is buy in at all levels evidence should be provided which can be built on over time and makes sense to both decision makers and the public.

The extent to which GI needs to be integrated with other strategies will depend on local needs and opportunities. The key document is likely to be the statutory Development Plan for the area GI should also be considered in other plans and strategies such as:

1. Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS), these aim to restore and enhance biodiverse and well-functioning ecological networks designed to deliver multiple benefits based on identified need. These strategies are intended to assist planners and developers in achieving biodiversity net gain (BNG) and wider nature recovery. BNG can finance investment in both on and offsite green infrastructure and the enhancement of parks and greenspace.
2. Climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies especially those which are aimed at addressing flood risk/water management and higher temperatures.
3. Health policies designed to address local inequalities in health outcomes.
4. Economic regeneration policy especially where poor quality environments are restricting investment.
5. Infrastructure plans and strategies

Producing a separate GI strategy to inform or supplement other policies and plans can help to deliver better GI in both urban and rural areas They can set out further detail on local needs, gaps in provision and opportunities for enhancement.

Comprehensive design for good GI should consider the following:

• Biodiversity/ nature recovery
• Health
• Carbon storage / sequestration
• Water - flood regulation, supply and quality
• Soil protection and enhancement
• Air quality, noise and temperature regulation
• Pollination
• Food production - community orchards, allotments, urban food
• Aesthetic value / sense of place
• Education
• Interaction with wildlife / access to nature
• Recreation / active travel

Understanding the landscape setting and character of a place is a key part of good design, and essential to ensure that new GI responds appropriately to place.

Baseline information should be gathered on:

• The setting of the area, including how it sits within the landscape, views in and out, and any existing ‘green corridors’, topography, geology, soils, ecology, river and waterways and open space
• The character of the area itself - how its natural, cultural/historic and perceptual characteristics combine to make the place distinctive.
• Community needs and values, so that the design reflects these and what the community considers to be beautiful, inspiring and/or symbolic in that area

This information may come from existing national, county/district and local landscape character assessments; townscape and historic character studies; and from statutory National Park and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) management plans.

Existing landscape strategies, policies and guidelines and local design codes for an area should also be used. If an assessment does not exist at the right scale for the GI scheme, then a new study may be required.

The findings can then inform the overall approach to the GI (conserve, enhance, restore or create) and its detailed design. This can include:

• The enhancement, retention, expansion and buffering of existing landscape features such as trees, hedges, meadows, woodlands and water features. This includes the planting of trees along new streets and keeping existing trees wherever possible.
• The retention and opening up of key views.
• The restoration of historic landscape features and areas such as parks.
• Opportunities to make new physical and visual links between areas, especially on settlement edges.
• Enhancing the setting of a settlement or historic landscape assets.
• The creation of new greenspaces and features that fit well into their surroundings and will serve current and future needs.

Good quality GI needs strong governance and a long-term strategic approach to management, funding, monitoring and evaluation. This means considering stewardship of GI from the outset and designing GI for long-term sustainability on site and through supporting policy.

Governance

Good governance in the context of GI stems from the involvement of the right people and organisations, clear responsibilities, the ability to plan ahead and to respond to changing circumstances, the resources to deliver and efficient processes. This means that governance structures and people in the key roles, need to be appropriate to the scale and type of GI. For example, collaboration between communities, landowners, wildlife organisations, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the lead local flood authority, health and wellbeing boards and local authorities, are likely to bring the necessary breadth of experience to the table at a strategic level and aid long-term thinking.

Governance may also be related to the type of land tenure and ownership and the legal arrangements associated with it including trusts that hold land, tenancies, conservation covenants and common land. This and the multifunctional nature of GI can make governance complex. Confirming who has certain responsibilities and if these are shared can be beneficial. For instance, who is involved in preparing and implementing the funding strategies and making sure they take account of both capital and revenue requirements.

At a site level, governance bodies should include relevant stakeholders and representatives of local communities and users. This will ensure that the GI is responsive to local needs. This can also aid with future proofing and responding to changes such as transfers of land ownership and new demand created by developments.

Management

The long-term management and maintenance of GI is critical to achieving multifunctionality. GI benefits can be delivered within a site but can also extend into the surrounding area and across administrative boundaries. This means that the management of one site can affect the ability of another to deliver its GI benefits, and responsibilities may be split. The consequence is, there can be a need to take a strategic view of GI management across and between areas. This is particularly pertinent for issues such flood risk and biodiversity networks.

At a site level management and maintenance considerations must be included early in the design process. Developers and landowners in particular need to be aware of the need to positively manage GI to provide benefits into the future. In developments implemented in phases, this should be a consideration at the very start, so the GI is consistently managed long term.

Involving local communities and local stakeholders in discussions on long term management can be very valuable. They often have insights into local needs and issues. They may become involved in management delivery, but this has to be matched by appropriate resources both in terms of funding but also staff support.

On a site basis, asset transfer or long leases to social enterprises, charitable trusts, or partnerships with community or other organisations, up-front endowments, service charges from commercial and residential sectors and licences can help reduce costs and increase income. New funding streams such as the Environmental Land Management Scheme will be important in the future.

For local authorities planning conditions, obligations or the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) are the key mechanisms for securing funding for GI implementation and ongoing management from development. Developer contribution policies may need to be updated to take account of BNG and provide evidence-based funding to support proper long-term management and maintenance of GI.