Evaluation

Three themes are key to the success of Cambridgeshire’s green infrastructure approach - tradition, co-ordination and leadership, funding.

Tradition

Cambridgeshire County Council has a long tradition of strategic green space planning, dating back to the 1980s. This ensured a strong local knowledge base and an expectation that a strategic approach to greening would occur in the newly emerging ‘growth agenda’.

Co-ordination and leadership

The establishment of Cambridgeshire Horizons to co-ordinate growth plans was vital. The company’s ability to straddle policy and delivery, its senior management commitment, and its focus on strategic infrastructure and ‘quality of life’ were invaluable in the production of the first green infrastructure strategy. It also provides leadership, direction and a focal point for green infrastructure planning.

Funding

Cambridgeshire’s designation as a housing growth area resulted in new resources from the Department for Communities and Local Government. These funds allow Cambridgeshire Horizons to play a key central role.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has gone further and allowed the delegation of budgetary decisions - this has enabled growth funds to be ‘top sliced’ for green infrastructure improvements ahead of development. This has ensured that momentum has continued, even during the 2008/09 economic downturn. 

However, reduced funding for growth areas threatens the delivery of some of the much needed housing vital to support economic growth and poses difficult challenges for the delivery of green infrastructure.   This is particularly concerning, given the potential for areas such as Cambridgeshire to play a lead role in economic recovery.

Updating the strategy

The Cambridgeshire green infrastructure strategy was one of the first produced in England in 2006, and will be updated in 2010 to address emerging issues like health and wellbeing, and climate change adaptation.

The updated strategy will also respond to significant changes in local planning such as Local Area Agreement processes and Local Development Frameworks. Its evidence-based approach will be invaluable in terms of planning decision-making, prioritisation and in public inquiries.