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Green Infrastructure

Green Infrastructure (GI) is the network of parks, gardens, natural habitats, green corridors, and other green spaces and blue spaces (such as rivers, lakes and SuDs) that support healthier, more climate‑resilient places. High‑quality multifunctional GI delivers a wide range of benefits for communities across Essex. It can help reduce flood risk, capture carbon, support biodiversity, encourage active travel, create welcoming public spaces, and lessen the urban heat‑island effect.

How the ECC GI Team Supports Local Authorities

The Essex County Council GI team provides specialist advice on planning applications, as well as local and neighbourhood planning documents. We also produce guidance for local authorities, developers, and partners on how to secure high‑quality GI through new development.

Key resources include:

Essex's GI Standards 2022

These standards set out nine principles for protecting, enhancing, creating, and managing GI across Essex. Applying them in planning policy and decision‑making helps ensure multifunctional, accessible, high‑quality GI.

The Essex GI Strategy 2020 

The strategy provides the long‑term vision for GI in Essex, promoting an inclusive and connected GI network that supports environmental quality, wellbeing, and sustainable growth.

Essex’s GI Comment Compendium. 

Developed to support Local Planning Authorities, this compendium offers clear guidance on expected GI-related responses to planning applications. It also includes examples of comments issued on local plans, environmental statements, supplementary planning documents (SPDs), and other planning documents.

Essex GI Planning Guidance

The emerging Essex Green and Blue Infrastructure (GBI) Planning Guidance sets out a clear framework for embedding GBI into planning policy and development across the county. It is designed for planning policy officers, development management teams, developers, elected members, landowners, and local communities.

The guidance outlines:

  • What good GBI looks like and why it matters
  • Why it is essential for climate resilience, biodiversity, health, and placemaking
  • How to plan, design, deliver, and steward GBI from strategic policy in Local Plans to site-level implementation and new developments

Building on national policy and the Essex GI Standards, the guidance promotes an integrated, multifunctional approach—treating GBI as vital infrastructure rather than a constraint. It also supports delivery of statutory duties such as Local Nature Recovery Strategies and Biodiversity Net Gain.

Explore Green Infrastructure in Essex

For an interactive map and further information, visit:
🔗 https://www.placeservices.co.uk/green-essex/