East Lindsey Local Plan 2001 - 2021

CHAPTER 8: OPEN SPACE, SPORT AND RECREATION

• to protect, improve and ensure the provision of community recreation facilities, both private and public;
• to make fullest use of existing open space, sport and recreation facilities;
• to encourage and enable a greater public involvement in formal and informal recreation activities;
• to ensure that recreation opportunities are more equally provided throughout the District;
• to cater particularly for the recreational needs of disadvantaged people;
• to improve access to the countryside and allow the quiet enjoyment of the countryside;
• to protect amenity and recreational open spaces in and around settlements;
• to encourage and, where necessary, require the provision of further amenity and recreational open space in new development and elsewhere;
• to promote development that encourages and develops healthy and active lifestyles.

OPEN SPACE, SPORT AND RECREATION

• Policy REC1 - Sport and Recreation Hierarchy
• Policy REC2 - Loss of Sport and Recreation Facilities
• Policy REC3 - Countryside Recreation
• Policy REC4 - Local Country Parks
• Policy REC5 - Green Corridors

8.1 In PPG17 - (Open Space, Sport and Recreation) the Government recognises that open space, sport and recreation underpin people’s quality of life. It acknowledges not only the importance of facilities for active recreation but also that informal and formal open spaces such as urban parks and town squares make a valuable contribution to sustainable communities.

8.2 The PPG requires that the existing and future needs of local communities for open space, sport and recreation are known so that effective planning can take place. This requires detailed studies to be undertaken to identify the needs of different groups in the community, such as young people and the elderly, and visitors alike. It also requires an audit of current facilities to help identify and resolve conflicts between different uses and to provide the basis for establishing local standards that can properly reflect local circumstance.

8.3 This is particularly significant in an area such as East Lindsey where the differences in size of settlement and population structure are considerable. An audit of facilities has been initiated but although a large amount of information has been gathered the detailed analysis and community consultation is incomplete. This means that the policies of this Chapter will be reviewed and updated as soon as this analysis is complete

8.4 This Chapter aims to provide guidance for the development of Sport and Recreational facilities appropriate to the character of the District and to protect and enhance the roles of all forms of open and public space. The key issues are identified as:-

• the dispersed rural population and access issues and the aspirations of local communities;
• the contribution made by the coastal strip and tourism related activities;
• the need for careful management of the potential of the Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other sensitive areas and the need to balance use with protection;
• the wider countryside and the range of informal recreation and leisure activities.
• the essential link between sport and recreation and the social and economic health of rural communities.
• the value of small open and public spaces within the settlements not being fully recognised because of the dominating presence of open countryside.

Open Space, Sport and Recreation Strategy

8.5 This chapter deals with the spatial distribution of recreational provision within settlements and the countryside. The requirement that developers should contribute to community facilities to maintain levels of recreational provision is dealt with in Policy CP9 - Planning Obligations to Secure Sustainable Development.

8.6 The following seven objectives will guide the Local Plan Strategy for open space, sport and recreation and leisure:-

• to protect and improve the provision of community recreation facilities to make fullest use of existing sport and recreation facilities including partnership working where this will help deliver a more sustainable provision;
• to ensure that access to a range of recreation opportunities is provided within the District;
• to cater for all groups in the community and particularly for the recreational needs of disadvantaged people;
• to improve access to the countryside and allow the quiet enjoyment of the countryside;
• to protect public amenity spaces in and around settlements;
• to encourage and, where necessary, require the provision of further amenity and recreational open space in new development and elsewhere;
• to promote development that encourages and develops healthy and active lifestyles.

8.7 The underlying principle of the Plan is that development should be built around the sustainable framework of the settlement hierarchy. However, because of their diversity, ‘recreation activities’ cannot be defined simply by urban and rural boundaries and need a clear district wide strategy to guide their development. So, just as the strategy for formal sports can (generally) be guided by the ratio of pitches to total population there is a need to use District thresholds for activities which draw participants from a far wider area and pose a threat to the character of the countryside.

8.8 In the absence of a completed survey the Plan adopts the National Playing Fields Standard as the standard for establishing the basic level of provision in the towns, but as with the other key settlements this will be refined to reflect local population structure and local circumstances.

  Policy REC1 - Sport and Recreation Hierarchy

a) large scale, formal sports facilities in or around the towns to serve the main centres and their catchments;

b) sport and recreation facilities in or around the towns and service villages to serve the local community;

c) recreational and amenity space within residential areas of the towns, service villages and core villages

Development of active sport or recreation uses or those involving large groups of people, will not normally be permitted in the open countryside or where it impinges on the quiet enjoyment of the AONB, the CCAs; or where it may threaten the character of protected sites.

8.10 The Council recognises that recreational needs and opportunities will differ between the larger towns and the smaller villages, and between the more urban locations and the countryside. Proposals will be judged against this broad strategy and in the context of the findings of the Council’s Recreation Strategy. Other policies in this Chapter go on to provide specific criteria to allow for local factors to be taken into account.

8.11 Accordingly the Council will expect all major sporting and recreational developments to be located in or alongside the towns, to reflect their strategic importance and to ensure easy access to the major road network.

8.12 The towns and service centres are also the locations which are best suited to providing facilities at a sub area level to the settlements and the surrounding villages within their catchment and proposals which add to that provision should take account of that wider role.

8.13 There is also a need for local provision in the key settlements, notably the towns, as part of individual schemes, or in the smaller key settlements as the result of cumulative development

8.14 The Council will not normally allow the development of formal or crowd-generating sport and recreation facilities away from settlements, in the open countryside. Exceptions will only be made where the nature of the sport requires a countryside location, as set out in Policy REC3. Such development would be contrary to the Plan's objective of making sport and recreation facilities accessible to all sectors of the community and would also be contrary to the national need to protect the countryside for its own sake.

8.15 The countryside and particularly the AONB, the Coastal Conservation Areas and Protected Sites (such as Nature Reserves) is an important resource in its own right and requires special care to protect its intrinsic qualities. Activities that detract from those qualities or alter the character of the area are not appropriate in such locations.

  Policy REC2 - Loss of Sport and Recreation Facilities

a) It helps meet a need identified in the Council’s Recreation Strategy and development of part of the site would result in the retention or enhancement of community sport or recreation use of the remainder of the site; or

b) An equivalent area of land in terms of size and accessibility is provided elsewhere within the same catchment area for community sport or recreation use; or

c) There is shown to be an excess of available land for sport or recreation for current and likely future need, within the 8 local catchment area.

8.17 The sites allocated or identified as main sport and formal recreation uses are required to meet current and expected levels of provision in the key settlements. Once lost these sites cannot be replaced and development will therefore, only be permitted provided that the needs of the community for ‘recreational’ purposes will not be compromised.

8.18 The broader strategy will be only one test in assessing that the needs of the community will not be compromised. It will be equally important to consider the relationship between such sites and the catchment it serves. The location of sites in relation to the surrounding land uses and the lack of suitable alternatives will be relevant.

8.19 At the same time the decline of any particular recreational pursuit is not seen as sufficient justification for the loss of the recreational use of a site. Instead, the Council would expect to see upgrading, re-structuring or redevelopment to meet new needs and expectations for recreational facilities in conjunction with the delivery of the Recreation Strategy.

8.20 In identifying and protecting the primary and most accessible existing community recreation areas, the Council recognises the particular importance of them to the general health and welfare of the local community. The Government, in PPG17 (Sport and Recreation) requires that Local Plans protect open space and other land with recreational or amenity value. In particular, it draws attention to the need to protect the long-term community need for recreation space by retaining playing fields and recreation grounds. This includes those in Local Authority ownership, which may not be required for their original purpose but may be able to meet the growing need for recreational land in the wider community.

  Policy REC3 - Countryside Recreation

a) of its extensive land requirements; or

b) its water based nature; or

c) cannot be realised within or alongside a key settlement; or

d) it is associated with and can be shown to be functionally essential to the operation of an established recreational use.

In every case any new buildings are sited next to existing buildings or otherwise visually form an integral part of the overall development; and the scheme makes use of existing buildings in preference to new-build facilities.

8.22 At the same time the Government is advocating, through PPG7 and PPG17, a broadening of the rural economy and diversification of agriculture such as under its Farm and Conservation Grant Scheme that supports the alternative use of agricultural land and buildings for sport and recreation. There is clearly a balance to be found and policy REC3 aims to make sure that recreation proposals in the countryside are weighed against the most appropriate local environmental and amenity factors. The guiding principal in the countryside, as stated in PPG7, is that development should benefit the rural economy and maintain or enhance the environment.

8.23 In making exceptions to the countryside protection policies for some recreation activities, the Council does not wish to see this as a loophole for new buildings and structures in the open countryside and thus prejudice its Countryside and Environment Policies.

8.24 Therefore, Policy REC3 aims to control built development in association with recreation uses, to obtain a higher quality development and minimise its impact on the environment and local infrastructure.

  Policy REC4 - Local Country Parks

Development, which would prejudice the quiet enjoyment of these areas, will not normally be permitted.

8.26 Small country parks can provide a range of leisure facilities within easy reach of town dwellers. As well as satisfying a growing need, they can take pressure off the open countryside as a recreation facility and also reduce the number of car journeys through country lanes. For example, Tattershall Leisure Park is readily accessible to Coningsby and Tattershall residents, even though it serves a much wider catchment.

8.27 The Council will encourage landowners, town councils and local organisations to set up informal recreation facilities such as footpaths, picnic areas, trails and environmental education facilities with appropriate planting and landscaping. It will seek to complement these through the integration of established routes, such as the ‘Round Louth Walk’ with newly created routes in new developments.

  Policy REC5 - Green Corridors

8.29 The Council aims to exploit the potential of green footways in, across and around the towns, to provide:-

• alternative means of access to build on established routes and reduce conflict between cars and pedestrians
• recreational and tourist routes
• a network of green corridors which in turn can contribute to enhancing local biodiversity as part of integrated landscaping schemes.