Strategy Development

The Strategy Development Process:

The partnership recognised that a Greenspace Strategy would have a number of advantages:

• Heightened public awareness of the resource and the issues surrounding greenspace protection and management;
• Improved rationale for policy, land disposal and spending decisions; and
• Stronger basis for accessing funds for improvements in provision.

The strategy process included a review through audit of existing public open space and amenity in and around the City.  Consultants completed an initial audit of approximately 100 established sites identified as amenity in the Inverness Local Plan.  They also produced a report detailing opportunity for the wider urban fringe and the immediate countryside areas surrounding the city.  The results of the audit were recorded in a GIS map that now forms the future planning record for greenspace in and around the City.

The second phase in the process was to define the interests in the open spaces identified in the audit, and to add additional areas that are recognised as having value to the communities, but were not included in the first audit survey. 

The third phase, having identified the comprehensive picture of open space sites and the interests in these areas, was to analyse the outcomes in relation to overall provision.  This analysis was then taken to community groups and stakeholders to provide confirmation and an opportunity for any additional comments on the quality and quantity of different types of open space, their value and use, and preference for future action planning.

Finally the results of the above process fed into the development of the Strategy and a prioritised Action Plan, which sets out clear and sustainable solutions to meet current and future need, and the means by which successful outcomes will be evaluated.