Policy information sourced from the Waltham Forest Local Plan
77 Green Infrastructure and the Natural Environment
A. Proposals will only be supported where they preserve and enhance green and blue infrastructure and access to open spaces by:
- Protecting Green Belt, Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) and other open space of designated importance from inappropriate development and improving active access for walking and cycling where appropriate;
- Delivering development and regeneration activity principally through the use of brownfield land and buildings; and
- Delivering the principles, strategies, investment and interventions set out in the Green and Blue Spaces Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).
B. In the event that development proposals are allowed in very special circumstances in Green Belt or MOL within the meaning of national policy and the London Plan, they should:
- Implement an exemplar standard of design in accordance with the principles set out in ‘Creating High Quality Places’;
- Complement and improve the quality of existing open space uses and landscaping;
- Enhance the green and blue infrastructure network through better connectivity and the creation of new open spaces, whilst also conserving its natural and historic value;
- Establish and/or extend the borough’s Greenways and Green Corridors, and provide landscaping along transport routes where possible; and
- Design new development adjacent to existing Green Chains and Green Corridors in a way that contributes positively towards the green infrastructure network.
C. All major development must be designed to maximise opportunities for urban greening (as defined within London Plan Policy G5 ‘Urban greening’) through appropriate landscaping schemes and planting of trees.
D. All development proposals should enhance the value of existing open spaces by:
- Responding to the character and significance of the space;
- Optimising physical and visual access between development and open space;
- Increasing biodiversity value.
E. New high quality and usable open spaces and/or landscape infrastructure must be provided in major new developments. Where new development cannot contribute to usable open space provision or landscaping on-site, or provision is deemed insufficient to the scale and nature of the development, financial contributions will be sought for the ongoing maintenance of public open space.
F. Proposals for new areas of open space and landscape provision must be accompanied by a maintenance plan for adopted and non-adopted areas as a requirement of planning permission to ensure their long-term successful establishment.
G. Any improvements to access routes or green corridors should not result in any adverse effects on the integrity of the Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation (see Policy 81 ‘Epping Forest and the Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation’).
For more information please see the Waltham Forest Local Plan