| Project type: | Regional City & Town Strategy |
| Stage: | Strategic Guidance |
Helping nature and planning for people, from Oxford to Cambridge
At JTP, we have committed to delivering biodiversity net gain on all our projects and look for opportunities to significantly improve biodiversity and provide green infrastructure that connects into the wider nature network. We have recently collaborated with The Wildlife Trusts to conceive an alternative, nature-led vision for the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Arc – the area between Oxford and Cambridge which has been identified as the location for one and a half million new homes, new road and rail links, and new places to work.
The proposals, as they are currently being planned and delivered, simply will not work. Without proper assessment, the government cannot know whether the area could support the current proposals and stay within environmental limits for nature, carbon and water.
Today’s climate emergency and extinction crisis require different thinking when it comes to planning and placemaking. Managing water stress, transport pressures, housing requirements, climate obligations, and the need for nature’s recovery can be done in such a way that people benefit from a thriving natural environment which supports healthy lifestyles.
Our alternative vision for the area – 100 Miles Wilder – we believe, will ultimately lead to a more prosperous economy and sustainable growth. This approach will allow for the most valuable habitats to be protected, increase natural capital through connecting and enhancing ecological networks, and improve everyone’s access to nature. Coupled with a strategic environmental assessment and a sustainable travel index, this could inform the best places to build new communities.
Together with The Wildlife Trusts, we have produced a vision map which demonstrates a new way of thinking about how places should be planned – with nature and people’s wellbeing at the centre. Whilst the map focuses on the Oxford-Cambridge area, the principles and design ideas can be utilised on new neighbourhoods and places across the UK
Project Delivery
– Maps landscape character and nature recovery networks across the Arc and uses these to inform and determine where nature friendly development might come forward. Establishing, protecting, enhancing and connecting these networks is key to creating a landscape where wildlife is abundant, development is green, cities are wilder, the countryside is buzzing, soils are healthy and water is plentiful and clean.
– Outlines 10 key principles for Building Nature’s Way which support restorative water management; making space for nature and providing access to it; nature friendly farming; putting development in the right places; and aligning this with an active travel network.
– Illustrates Connectivity Networks and Recovery Zones to show opportunity areas where nature can most easily spread to newly created habitats. The aim is for a high proportion of land in these zones to contribute to Nature’s Recovery Network.
– Includes ways of rethinking how we plan and design movement within the corridor, so it takes advantage of the natural landscape. This means prioritising active travel and planning development that is easily accessible to local services.
– Highlights the need to change how we plan for new infrastructure, shifting the conversation away from capacity and speed, to redefine the problem we are seeking to solve in the context of social and environmental needs.
– Emphasises the importance of zero carbon living and how this can be achieved across the six areas of renewable energy – passive design; decarbonised transport; building retrofit; carbon removal; and sustainable agriculture.
– Identifies the 1:70 cost benefit ratio of taking this approach versus doing nothing. For every £1 invested in natural capital, the ONS estimates £70 of social and environmental benefits.
| Project type: | Regional City & Town Strategy |
| Stage: | Strategic Guidance |