Existing Open Space and Green Infrastructure

    Contains Options

The city’s open space covers many types of provision which includes parks several of which have attained Green Flag Award status, sports pitches, playing fields, school grounds, children’s outdoor play spaces, allotments, cemeteries and churchyards, woodland and natural areas, amenity spaces, and civic spaces along with blue open spaces such as lakes, ponds and rivers. Together, these open spaces also constitute part of Southampton’s Green Grid (see Policy EN3: Green Infrastructure and the Green Grid).   

Southampton’s open spaces are key to its quality of life, making the city an attractive place to live, work and visit and providing important health benefits such as improving mental wellbeing and providing opportunities for physical activity. The city’s open spaces will become ever more important as the population of the city continues to increase and development of other land is required to support this. The Plan takes a strong approach to protecting and enhancing existing open spaces along with providing new open spaces (see Policy EN5: New Open Space and Green Infrastructure Provision) in order to maximise these multi-functional benefits.