Policy information sourced from the Islington Development Management Policies

DM6.2 New and improved public open spaces

Developments in excess of 200 residential units or 10,000m2 gross external floorspace, or where a specific need has been identified by the council, are required to provide on-site publicly accessible public open space. This shall be provided in addition to private amenity space and landscaping and shall be fully publicly accessible, without any restrictions and maintained in perpetuity.

For those development types referred to in Part A above, in exceptional circumstances, where it is clearly demonstrated that public open space cannot be provided on site or that the required amount cannot be provided on site in full, and where the proposal has over-riding planning benefits, a financial contribution shall be paid to the council towards the provision of new public open space or enhancements to existing spaces. Other developments will also create the need for public open space provision and will be expected to provide financial contributions towards this.

Public open space provision must maximise biodiversity benefits. New or improved public open space shall incorporate areas of biodiversity habitat complementing surrounding habitats and supporting the council’s Biodiversity Action Plan. Species chosen for planting across the space must maximise biodiversity benefit. Public open spaces within the functional vicinity of a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) shall be planted with native species and local provenance species and complement the species composition in the SINC.

Public open space should normally be green public open space, such as a public park. Areas of new and/or improved hard landscaped public open space, such as civic space, may be considered appropriate instead of green public open space, particularly in Town Centres. In such cases it must be demonstrated that the provision of green public open space is not possible or appropriate. In relation to Part C of this policy biodiversity benefits should be maximised where appropriate for civic spaces and other hard landscaped public open space.

The temporary use of sites for public open space, sport and recreation and/or nature conservation should be considered.

See also Policy DM9.1 (Infrastructure) and Policy DM9.2 (Planning obligations).

For more information please see the Islington Development Management Policies