Allotment

Land providing opportunities to grow produce as part of the long-term promotion of wildlife conservation and biodiversity.

Amenity green space

Publicly accessible areas green space providing recreation spaces in around development sites, providing opportunities for informal activities close to home, enhancing the appearance of residential areas and forming a link between green corridors/features, natural and semi natural space and other local community facilities. This can include small local areas providing places for recreation, picnic areas, sitting out areas. It can also include informal (unequipped) play areas that provide opportunities for creative play using the natural environment.

Children's playing space

This provision covers all aspects of equipped play areas for children and youths. It includes play areas that provide free play equipment (such as swings, climbing frames, slides and or fixed items of play), teen shelters, skateboard ramps, BMX tracks, etc.

Commencement of the development

Means undertaking some works on site to commence a planning permission. In order to lawfully 'commence' development it is necessary to satisfy the legal requirements in section 56(4) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Formal open space

Parks and managed open spaces which are publicly accessible, multi-functional greenspaces providing opportunities for informal recreation and community events, typically in urban areas. They can incorporate formal and informal features, such as flower beds, trees, landscaped areas and ancillary provision such as toilets and seating areas.

Informal and Natural Open Spaces

Informal less intensively maintained land. In these areas, wildlife, conservation, biodiversity and environmental education take precedence over recreational uses in determining management regimes. This includes areas with protective statutory designations and also comprises publicly accessible countryside parks areas. The size and utility of such spaces varies widely, with some having provision such as paths, benches, rubbish bins and planting schemes, whilst others comprise only grassed areas. Some provide linkages within the green infrastructure network to other open spaces.

Open space

All open space of public value, including not just land, but also areas of water (such as rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs) which offer important opportunities for sport and recreation and can act as a visual amenity.

Outdoor sport

Includes both pitch sport (such as rugby, football, cricket) and non-pitch sport such as bowls, tennis and athletics.

Planning obligation

Legal agreements between a Local Planning Authority and a developer, or undertakings offered unilaterally by a developer, that ensure that certain extra Planning Obligation works related to a development are undertaken. Sometimes called 'Section 106' agreements.

Street furniture

Collective term for objects and pieces of equipment installed along the streets and roads for various purposes. Examples include benches, traffic barriers, bollards, post boxes, phone boxes, streetlamps, traffic lights, traffic signs, bus stops, tram stops, taxi stands, public lavatories, fountains, watering troughs, memorials, public sculptures, waste receptacles, outdoor sculptures, waste bins, etc.