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Planning : UDP ...

Chapter 9- Open Space and Recreation

• INTRODUCTION
• CONTEXT
• POLICIES AND PROPOSALS
• THE GENERAL STRATEGY
• PROTECTION OF OPEN SPACE & PLAYING FIELDS
• SMALLER OPEN SPACES
• UNIVERSITY OF NORTHUMBRIA PLAYING FIELDS, COACH LANE
• MAJOR AREAS FOR RECREATION
• DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF FACILITIES
• INFORMAL & FORMAL OPEN SPACE PROVISION
• PLAYSITES
• RECREATION CORRIDORS
• CONTROL OF DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

9.1 Sport and recreation are activities with major land-use implications requiring a significant amount of space to be identified and maintained for their purposes. Additionally, along with having to meet the needs of its residents, North Tyneside performs a recreation function for a wider hinterland through its exceptional coastalattractions and countryside resources. The UDP must therefore consider and make provision for facilities, both indoors and out, and within the built-up area and beyond, to satisfy the Borough's needs, and those of visitors from other parts of the region and elsewhere.

9.2 The majority of active and passive recreation activities take place in open space areas which, along with their recreation function, have a significant role in determining the overall shape of the built-up area and its separate neighbourhoods. Apart from main countryside areas, a large area of land, nearly 1100 ha within or immediately adjoining the built-up area is devoted to such use. In many cases open spaces also accommodate, or are closely linked to other educational, social and community facilities. The UDP is therefore designed to confirm the general and detailed disposition of open space and its various uses, in accordance with the environmental and other objective of the Plan.

9.3 North Tyneside has extensive areas of coast and river estuary with considerable existing and potential resources for land and water-based recreation. The Plan therefore needs to ensure that development of these resources takes due account of likely impact on the natural environment and local amenity, and that a satisfactory relationship can be established with river-based commercial activity.

CONTEXT

The Needs of Recreation

9.4 Recreation did not, in earlier development plans, generally receive the acknowledgement in terms of policies and proposals which its significance merits. Nowadays however it is recognised to have major land use implications, commensurate with its importance to the well-being of the community and with the large area of land which it occupies in its various forms. Health, educational and sociological studies have stimulated a growing awareness of the importance of sports and recreation facilities to all sections of the community, in increasing personal mobility and activity rates in an ever more sedentary society. In addition exploitation of the recreation potential of neighbouring countryside has extended activities beyond the built-up area, into the urban fringe.

9.5 The maintenance of adequate provision for recreation and open space is also seen to have important economic benefits, in providing jobs within a growth sector of the economy, in improving the health and well-being of the workforce, and in enhancing the Borough's attractiveness for inward investment and tourism. The DoE's strategic guidance for Tyne and Wear indicates that urban regeneration should encompass provision of new recreation opportunities and improvement of the area's leisure environment.

9.6 In planning for leisure and recreation the Local Planning Authority has to seek to meet the needs of many different groups within the community:

• children need space to play within their home neighbourhood, younger children close to home, and older children space for more extensive and adventurous activities.
• adults need space to relax in, or to take their children to. • older people need places for games, or to watch others playing.
• sports people need venues for their games and activities.
• communities need spaces of various sizes for events of local or district-wide significance such as summer festivals.
• most groups need space to experience nature.
• particular groups such as the disabled or elderly infirm need additional physical measures such easy access and or signing to facilitate their enjoyment of spaces, or built leisure facilities.

9.7 The pattern of open spaces and indoor facilities available to satisfy these needs in North Tyneside has evolved to include a variety of elements:

• domestic open space associated with dwellings.
• local open spaces, including small incidental open spaces within housing areas close to the home, providing mainly informal facilities for children's play, and a meeting space for children, their parents and older residents.
• neighbourhood spaces and parks, constituting substantial open spaces with good access to housing areas and local transport, and providing a range of active and passive pursuits for all ages in a secure and attractive environment.
• outdoor sports facilities, for organised team games or individual activities, either purpose-built, or included within parts or dual-use school playing fields.
• specialised recreation facilities such as pigeon crees, allotments and stables.
• extensive countryside areas of 'natural' landscape on the urban fringe, or forming green wedges into the built-up area, offering a range of passive recreational activity and active pursuits such as walking, cycling, horse riding and natural history interest.
• coastal areas offering facilities for a large range of recreation pursuits, both water and land-based for all age groups. • purpose-built indoor facilities, including swimming pools, sports halls, ice rinks, libraries and museums, dance and fitness.

9.8 Additionally, growing importance is attached nowadays to identifying and protecting the link ages which should join the various elements in the pattern of open spaces. Sometimes these linkages form an open space in their own right, such as former wagonways, which may be of considerable historical, natural and recreational value. In other circumstances their main function is as a channel of movement between facilities, 'recreation corridors' for walkers, cyclists or horse-riders, encouraging use of a greater variety and range of facilities.

Existing Resources and Future Demand

9.9 Currently more than half of Britain's adults regularly participate in indoor or outdoor sport, along with the large majority of the child population. Many more enjoy the informal recreational opportunities offered by open space and countryside, with walking being by far the most popular activity for men and women. National bodies such as the Sport England are focusing on a general aim of increasing overall rates of participation, partly by increased promotion, but also by improving the supply and quality of facilities available, and resolving deficits identified. They are also highlighting the narrowing gap between male and female participation rates, and the consequent need to ensure adequate access for females to sports and recreation opportunities.

9.10 Surveys have been carried out in North Tyneside to detail the supply of facilities in various spheres of recreation and open space use in an effort to assess their distribution across the Borough, and the amount of their provision against recognised standards. These surveys showed (see Table R1 following) that in relation to playing pitch provision, for example, the overall position surveyed indicated provision to be close to NPFA recommended standards, a situation confirmed by the Council's September 1995 Review of Playing Pitch needs which forms the basis of its Strategy for Future Provision (adopted by the Council's Policy and Resources Committee on 17 October 1995). The playing pitch strategy particularly addresses the aim of a better distribution across the Borough, an issue which Table R1 shows to be also pertinent to the present distribution of informal open space.

TABLE R1 NORTH TYNESIDE OPEN SPACE

WARD	Outdoor sports Provision including school pitches with secured community use (ha/1000 pop)	Informal Open Spaced Provision including play areas and parks (ha/1000 pop)
Weetslade	1.59	2.60
Comperdown	0.69	4.94
Longbenton	0.70	1.34
Holystone	2.82	1.90
Benton	3.94	1.51
Valley	0.88	6.57
Northumberland	0.82	2.69
Battle Hill	0.43	1.48
Wallsend	2.15	7.71
Howden	0.25	0.88
Riverside	0.93	6.53
Chirton	2.15	0.14
Collingwood	0.37	3.13
North Shields	0.46	0.43
Tynemouth	1.45	4.95
Cullercoats	1.20	0.38
Seatonville	1.10	1.16
Whitley Bay	0.70	1.60
Monkseaton	0.55	0.64
St.Mary's	0.00	0.70
North Tyneside Ward Average	1.16	2.56
North Tyneside District Gross Provision	1.67	2.91
National Playing Fields Association recommended minimum	1.8	0.80 ( Standard for children playing space- not all areas in the table are suitable for this purpose).

Source: North Tyneside Council Survey April 1999

9.11 The Local Planning Authority is particularly conscious of the present significant degree of under-provision in relation to the number and distribution of children's equipped play sites in the Borough. Having recently assessed the situation it is now putting in place a strategy for future development of facilities, both new and refurbished, based on targetting communities with greatest need and least provision, using funds secured from public spending programmes and planning obligations. In the case of other activities however it will be prudent to protect existing facilities until longer term demands can be properly assessed, and provisions incorporated in future reviews of the Plan. For example the Countryside Agency has asked local authorities to establish a fully-defined rights of way network by the year 2000, a task which the Council is currently addressing, and in the case of water-based sports and recreation further strategic studies remain to be completed.

9.12 Forecasts of demand also have to take account of a variety of other factors including the general ageing of population during the 1990's and the effect of this on sport and recreation provision. The period 1996-2006 is forecast to see a 6.5% fall in North Tyneside's 0-44 year age group, and a compensating growth of 6% in the 45 years plus age group. In consequence health-related activities - keep fit - and sports such as indoor bowls, dance, swimming, boating, walking and golf are likely to gain in popularity, due to the demands of an increasingly middle-aged yet active population. There is also evidence that the 23-34 year age group, as the first generation to experience the wider range of modern sports and exercise facilities in and outside school, are demanding a better range and quality of facilities in the adult sphere.

Planning for recreation and open space

9.13 In the light of the foregoing, the Local Planning Authority's policies and proposals in the UDP are designed to promote a strategy for developing sport and recreation which will enable residents to participate in activities whether as players or spectators, and will encourage provision of a range of opportunities, to meet all choices. Provision will be sought both through public sector initiatives in partnership with other providers, or through private sector investment in an area increasingly attractive to private funding. Such opportunities will, wherever possible, be made available for everyone, including older persons and disabled, to whom means of access to facilities are particularly important.

9.14 The planning authority's responsi ility is also to take full account in its development control decisions of the community's needs for recreational space, having regard to current levels of provision and deficiencies, and to resist pressures for development of open space where this conflicts with wider public interests. It has, to achieve a reasonable balance between the need to make adequate provision for development in urban areas, and the need to protect open space. Government and national and regional sporting bodies nowadays attach particular importance to the protection of playing fields, which are increasingly under threat of disposal for other purposes, and for this reason the Local Planning Authority attaches particular importance to the conclusions of the Council's adopted Playing Pitch Strategy.

9.15 Some recreation facilities take the form of built development, such as fitness centres or indoor tennis and football. These facilities can have an impact on the surrounding neighbourhood in terms of noise, traffic movement, extended opening hours and other potential disturbance. The Local Planning Authority has to ensure, through the operation of development control, that their siting, design and operation does not have an unacceptable impact on local communities.

Main objectives of the UDP

9.16 In accordance with guidance from national and regional recreation bodies and PPG17 (Sport and Recreation), and bearing in mind the particular issues to be met in North Tyneside, the main objectives of the UDP are in summary to ensure that:

(1) the fullest possible range of leisure and recreation activities can be accommodated within the District at all levels from major to local neighbourhood significance

(2) a choice of active and passive recreation facilities are accessible to all North Tyneside's residents, irrespective of their age or physical ability

(3) areas of open space are identified and protected, within which activities can be located, or along which movement can be directed between facilities - this network to be planted and landscaped wherever possible, to achieve a 'green' framework

(4) shortcomings in the availability and quality and distribution of provision are identified and commitments made to remedy them, based on realistic targets for achievement in terms of timescale and availability of resources for investment and maintenance

(5) where any such new provisions are proposed, within either existing or new development, or outside the built-up area, due attention is paid to the need to protect existing amenity and safeguard areas of natural history, landscape, or architectural or historic interest, and also to minimise any adverse impact on residential neighbourhoods

(6) where a proposal is made for development which would involve the loss of an existing facility or open space area, very careful consideration is given to the justification for, and consequences of such a change, and where it is demonstrated to be unavoidable, then suitable compensating provision is secured before agreement to the loss is given.

POLICIES AND PROPOSALS

The General Strategy

9.17 The Local Planning Authority will adopt a strategy towards recreation and open space provision which is defined in the following policies:

Protection of Open Space and Playing Fields

9.18 To ensure that the necessary open space is reserved for the purposes of Policies R1 and R2, areas required for public and private open space are identified on the Proposals Map to be protected from change of use to other purposes. These areas include sites for the following uses - playing fields including those of educational establishments and government and private organisations, parks, greens, courts and golf courses, incidental and amenity open spaces, coastal and riverside recreation, allotments and cemeteries. In addition to having a specific use, open space may also represent a visual amenity, contributing to the quality of the urban environment by for example enhancing the setting of buildings or trees, or providing a visual break within intense urban development. Any proposal to change the use of open space must therefore be examined against amenity as well as recreational considerations, and for these reasons:

Smaller Open Spaces

9.19 All the significant areas to which R2/1 applies, including schools and other educational establishments with playing fields, are shown on the Proposals Map. There are however many smaller unenclosed open spaces, generally under 0.25 hectares in area and mainly in public ownership, which are not identified but which make an important contribution to the amenities of a neighbourhood, primarily as incidental open space within a housing area. These spaces can, for example, enhance the settings of buildings or trees, provide visual relief in areas of intense development, and give opportunities for informal play. Such sites also merit protection from development and therefore:

University of Northumbria Playing Fields, Coach Lane

9.20 The University of Northumbria at Newcastle in early 1996 received planning consent for a major development of teaching accommodation, student residential units and sports facilities at its Coach Lane site in North Tyneside. In order to ensure that the site, which is presently used for outdoor playing pitches, will continue to provide for the University's recreation needs, consent for development was accompanied by a Section 106 agreement entailing a commitment by the University to continuing use of a minimum area of 2.7ha. for open space recreation. In order to protect the position pending definition of the playing pitch area to be provided the following policy will apply:

Major Areas for Recreation

9.21 Several areas of the Borough are by virtue of their size, location and range of facilities and attractions provided, of more than local significance as recreation and open space resources, and have added features of environmental, educational and tourist value. These include in particular North Tyneside's coastline, and the Rising Sun Country Park, along with the Denes area of Wallsend, and Backworth Hall and grounds. The Local Planning Authority will give particular attention to protecting the qualities and assets of these areas, and promoting their enjoyment, and therefore:

9.22 The Local Planning Authority will, in addition, seek the implementation of schemes for the enhancement of these areas, to make them more attractive and accessible to visitors and local residents, for example by improving footpaths, installing cycleways, facilities for the disabled, signposting and other visitor facilities. The current creation of a 'Waterside Trail' for walkers, cyclists and the disabled along the length of North Tyneside's coastline is designed in keeping with this strategy.

Development and Improvement of Facilities

9.23 In view of the need to direct scarce resources to those areas where they may most effectively be employed in improving facilities and adding to them, to assist the regeneration of older urban areas, to support the coastal tourist industry, and to develop the concept of green links within urban areas, the UDP includes a number of priority areas to which its general policy towards development and improvement will particularly apply:

9.24 The Local Planning Authority's particular aims in applying Policy R3 are to ensure that:

• existing recreation facilities and open space are properly managed, with adequate financial and other resources to improve landscaping and access, encourage community involvement and use, ensure user safety and security, and minimise problems of vandalism and litter, and conflict between participants and neighbours.
• management and access arrangements are designed both in the best interests of the community, and with consideration of any likely impact on agriculture and the natural environment.
• open space and other facilities are wherever possible accessible, safe and usable by disabled and other disadvantaged groups, to include consideration of arrangements for access, surfacing, seating, security, supervision and other special requirements.
• in view of the value of woodland and trees as a resource for informal recreation, and their present inadequate distribution and cover in North Tyneside, opportunities should be securedfor the protection and management of existing woodland, parkland trees and hedges, to provide public access to their enjoyment, and to create new woodland and hedges.
• the Local Planning Authority's objective in terms of distribution of facilities is to encourage the provision of a network of facilities which reflects the disposition of the Borough's population, minimises travel distances and maximises access opportunities for people with disabilities.

Informal and Formal Open Space Provision

9.25 The goal of the Unitary Development Plan is more precisely to ensure that each residential neighbourhood (i.e. an area within which residents can move easily without having to cross heavily trafficked roads) in North Tyneside is provided with accessible informal open space for children's play and other amenity enjoyment to a minimum standard of 0.8 hectares (2 acres) per 1000 population (in the absence of a locally derived standard the widely accepted National Playing Fields Association (NPFA) Standard has been adopted). In order to reach this standard across the Borough priority will be given to creating additional space in neighbourhoods where a deficiency is identified by comparison with the above standard.

9.26 To ensure that consumption of land for housing and other purposes does not lead to a reduction in the amount of informal open space available it is intended that (a) policy R2/1 should be strictly applied and; (b) additional informal open space to the NPFA standard will be required to accompany new residential development in accordance with Development Control Policy Statement 14 New Housing Estates - Design and Layout. In circumstances where the scale of development is insufficient to justify the smallest size of provision (a toddler play space) developers will be required to contribute a commuted sum for providing additional facilities in that neighbourhood to meet the demands of the new population. In determining the form and amount of open space required, the type of development proposed and the nature of the intended occupants shall be taken into account.

9.27 In the case of formal open space facilities including sports pitches, greens, courts and athletics tracks it is intended that there should as far as possible be an even distribution of resources across the Borough, to give the optimum access to all its residents. The NPFA's formal recreation standard of 1.8 hectares (4.5 acres) per 1000 population is intended to be adopted as a minimum aim in the absence of a locally derived standard and priority will be given to establishing additional facilities in those parts of the Borough where a deficiency is identified in relation to that standard.

9.28 The Council's 1995 Playing Pitch Strategy which is currently being updated provides an assessment of the amount and distribution of existing pitch resources together with proposals for their enhancement and will be used in both judging the consequences of any loss or displacement of existing facilities as well as in detailing proposals for new facilities. Given the importance which is attached to maintaining and adding to provision it is intended that: (a) policy R2/1 should be strictly applied to protect existing resources; (b) additional formal provision to the NPFA standard will be required to accompany new residential development; and (c) where the scale of development is not sufficient to justify creation of a whole new facility developers will be required to contribute a commuted sum towards providing additional facilities in that locality, to meet the demands of new population. In determining the form and amount of open space required, the type of development proposed and the nature of the intended occupants will be taken into account. Therefore:

9.29 To help meet the objectives of Policy R3 several locations have been identified for future playing field purposes, additional to sites already in use and protected. A site is proposed at Howdon, east of East End Park and south of the Metro line, comprising an area of 13.4ha. of reclaimed land previously identified for recreation purposes, primarily playing pitches, in the approved Willington Quay Local Plan. Its allocation and development, when resources permit, would help remedy existing recreational open space deficiencies in the older riverside areas, and would also compensate for the future development of existing playing pitches at High Flatworth for industrial or commercial development under Policy LE1/1(9). At West Allotment, east of the village, in association with wider reclamation works, a site has been identified for recreation facilities, including a playing pitch for local football use, which will also serve the needs of major business sites proposed nearby. Therefore:

Playsites

9.30 With regard to providing an increased number and range of children's playsites as committed in Policy R3(V) it is intended that the strategy referred to in 9.11 will be achieved primarily utilising open space identified and reserved on the Proposals Map. Other opportunities can also be anticipated to arise where suitable sites are deemed surplus to other requirements, or capable of shared use (eg school sites), while further opportunities may arise as part of larger new housing developments (a requirement of Development Control Policy Statement 14 New Housing Estates - Design and Layout). The overall aim is to secure for each local community in the Borough a range of playsites from small toddler spaces within a minute's walk to local and neighbourhood equipped areas and kick-around ball areas, in sizes ranging from 0.1-0.9 ha.

Recreation Corridors

9.31 Reference is made in Policy R3(IV) to the importance which the Local Planning Authority attaches to developing a network of recreation corridors within and between the main developed areas of the Borough, linking to strategic regional and national routes which have been successful in attracting Millennium funding. These corridors are being designed for use by some or all of the following - walkers, horse-riders, cyclists and disabled persons. A number of major corridors have now been established, the lines of which are shown on the Proposals Map: The Coast and Castles Cycle Route (Tynemouth - Whitley Bay - Hartley) The Waterside Trail (Royal Quays - North Shields - Tynemouth - Cullercoats - Whitley Bay - St.Mary's Island) The North Tyne Cycleway (Wallsend - Willington Quay - Pedestrian Tunnel - Royal Quays - North Shields - Tynemouth) The North Tyneside Green Waggonway Project The Hadrian's Wall National Trail (Newcastle Boundary - Segedunum) The Reivers Cycle Route (Tynemouth - Percy Main - Shiremoor - Burradon - Wideopen - Seaton Burn) Other corridors also may be of strategic importance in providing through routes within North Tyneside and into adjoining Districts. In all cases the Local Planning Authority will aim to ensure that (a) proposals are not approved which interrupt or curtail the use of a corridor, and (b) on sites adjoining a corridor development is not approved where it would be likely to prejudice use and enjoyment of the corridor. Therefore:

Control of Development

9.32 Sports and other recreation development can by virtue of the numbers of potential users attracted, and other features such as floodlighting or evening usage, have a significant impact on adjoining residential areas, and areas of sensitive natural environment or conservation merit. In order to avoid potential conflict and disturbance, whilst not intending to deter potential development and investment, the Local Planning Authority will adopt the following policy in relation to control of development.

9.33 The Local Planning Authority will in particular welcome proposals for major recreation projects which would make a substantial contribution to the Borough's potential for attracting tourism and business investment, and would provide a resource of Borough-wide or regional significance. These projects will be carefully considered as to their merits, as well as in terms of meeting the Council's policy for control of development under Policy R5

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Written Statement

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• 4 The Local Economy
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