Thetford, in the East of England, was identified as a Growth Point by Central Government in 2006. The Regional Spatial Strategy requires 6000 new homes to be built in Thetford by 2021, which has significant implications given Thetford’s sensitive landscape context. The town lies within the Brecks landscape, characterised by varied drift geology and a mosaic of acid heath, calcareous grassland, plantation and chalk rivers.
Thetford itself presents its own opportunities and challenges. It is perhaps unique as a Growth Point — a single, small town, focussed on a very tight, compact urban form and surrounded by internationally designated nature conservation sites within the Brecks, which act both as opportunity and constraint.
A holistic response to these sensitivities and subtleties was required to generate a Green Infrastructure framework to guide Thetford’s future growth and reflect the town’s special sense of place. The study also had to be grounded in reality, being supported by a costed Implementation Strategy to focus priorities for GI project delivery and to form a robust evidence base for Thetford’s Area Action Plan.
LUC’s study set out a landscape character and ‘place’-led response to guiding new growth and green infrastructure provision — a ‘greenprint’ identifying key green infrastructure assets, their protection and enhancement in advance of development, supported by creative design principles and project opportunities.
The strategy creates a framework for holistic, landscape-led design to form a common ground between existing and new communities. A cohesive approach to the planning of green infrastructure aims to facilitate car-free access and links for green transport, as well as opportunities for live work. Greenspace should be accessible on every level, creating incentives to walk and cycle and promoting healthy communities in the broadest sense. Similarly components of the greenspace network such as a new river valley park should form centrepieces for new, responsive environments which provide for both the existing community and for new residents, as well as facilitating a range of informal and formal recreation.
Process
Building up a series of GIS layers enabled a comprehensive 'environmental characterisation' and a greenspace audit, so that we could understand the issues facing Thetford. It also informed opportunities for new linkages to enhance connectivity and help alleviate existing environmental pressures. Our approach was allied to an understanding of broad sustainability concepts such as climate change and functioning flood plain to set a template for sustainable, 'multi objective' green space design.
The project evolved through integrated partnership working with Breckland Council, Natural England, the Forestry Commission, the Brecks Partnership and the Moving Thetford Forward forum. It involved working closely with urban designers from EDAW, to inform their work as they drew up the Growth Framework for the town.
LUC acted as lead landscape architects on all stages of the project, facilitating stakeholder consultation and in drawing up the GI strategy and delivery plan. LUC planners, landscape designers and ecologists all input on this study, a multidisciplinary approach that met the high expectations of the client and also provided a satisfying link between strategy and design.
For more information, go to www.movingthetfordforward.com
