Will the Minister outline the steps that have been undertaken in the last six months to create more community green space in town centres, along with a breakdown of new community spaces which have been created since May 2021?
The introduction of green infrastructure and improved public realm in town centres is central to successful place making and is therefore a fundamental part of projects supported under our Transforming Towns programme. We have actively encouraged local authorities to initiate Green Infrastructure audits of their town centres to ensure they look for ways to incorporate the greening of our town and city centres into all of their projects.
Our published Building Better Places document focuses on key areas of Planning Policy Wales, including the importance of green spaces, encouraging the creation of new spaces, and improving people’s access to green space.
A range of green space interventions are taking place cross-government, for example, the Transforming Towns programme is supporting the creation of green walls and roofs, rain gardens and pocket parks in town centres. These interventions support the wider vision for transforming our towns to strengthen their social, cultural and service usage to create sustainable places. The creation of more green space and better public realm will make town centres more attractive places to be. A breakdown of the interventions supported since May under Transforming Towns are provided in the table below:
|
Project |
Local Authority Area |
|
Sunnyside Redevelopment, Bridgend |
Bridgend |
|
Commercial Street Tree Planting, Maesteg |
Bridgend |
|
Green roof and biodiverse landscaping as part of a new Social Housing development at the former Police Station and Magistrate Courts, Caerphilly |
Caerphilly |
|
Greening Tudor Street, Cardiff, to include tree planting, rain gardens, and green roofs. |
Cardiff |
|
Carregamman Car Park Enhancements, Ammanford |
Carmarthenshire |
|
Llanelli Library Green Wall |
Carmarthenshire |
|
Lampeter Green Infrastructure |
Ceredigion |
|
Greening Rhyl |
Denbighshire |
|
Buckley Repair and Reuse – Café Cyfle and Community Gardens |
Flintshire |
|
Flint Green Infrastructure, Chester Street |
Flintshire |
|
Shotton Green Infrastructure & Biodiversity |
Flintshire |
|
Bangor Green Infrastructure |
Gwynedd |
|
Caldicot Town Centre Green Connections |
Monmouthshire |
|
Green Wall in Chepstow Town Centre |
Monmouthshire |
|
Delivery of Green Infrastructure Action Plan projects in Abergavenny, Chepstow and Monmouth town centres |
Monmouthshire |
|
Plaza, Port Talbot |
Neath Port Talbot |
|
The Burgage Gardens, Haverfordwest Castle |
Pembrokeshire |
|
Haverfordwest Our Green Town |
Pembrokeshire |
|
Growing Newtown |
Powys |
|
Dragon Hotel |
Swansea |
|
Green Roof Bin Shelters |
Swansea |
|
Potters Wheel Green Wall |
Swansea |
|
Urban Village Green Roof |
Swansea |
|
Gateway improvement, surfacing, seating areas, planters, tree planting and rain gardens, in Barry, Cowbridge, Llantwit Major and Penarth town centres |
Vale of Glamorgan |