Doug McNab, Land Use Consultants Ltd (LUC) provided members with a presentation on Thurrock’s Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy.

Doug McNab explained that LUC have been commissioned by the Council to update its green and blue infrastructure strategy.

Doug McNab started the presentation with explaining what green infrastructure is and why it is so important. He further explained that LUC prepared a draft Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy for Thurrock back in 2019 but since that time there has been significant changes in terms of national policy and legislation. There have also been changes locally, the declaration of the climate emergency and proposals from wider South Essex strategic work such as the South Essex Estuary Park. LUC have been collating information on these changes to the planning context and to the baseline within Thurrock and they have been making recommendations on how to embed green infrastructure into policies in the emerging local plan. Doug McNab also highlighted that due to the Lower Thames Crossing proposals they need to re-visit the 2019 proposals.

Doug McNab explained that they would be reviewing the previous blue infrastructure proposals taking into account the Thames Estuary 2100 update which is all about managing flood risk from the Thames Estuary and also recent changes being proposed to designated wildlife sites.

Councillor Redsell asked if they were looking to open up the river as there is 18 miles of river in Thurrock and not much of it was easy to access.

Doug McNab responded that this was exactly the type of opportunity they will be identifying and looking to capitalise on as there is lots of evidence that access to water and green infrastructure has health and wellbeing benefits beyond other benefits such as natural flood risk management.

The Local Plans Manager responded that there are other pieces of evidence being completed to look at how we can increase accessibility to the river frontage and create a more positive relationship between our communities and the riverside. They will be looking at the recreational aspects of the river as well as its functions as an economic asset to the borough.

Councillor Redsell noted that the flats on Gray’s riverside look out on to the river but further on in Tilbury there is nothing. She also noted that Gravesend has done much more with their river front. She stressed that they needed to do something to give people the opportunity to be able to look out to the river.

Doug McNab also highlighted that with nationally significant infrastructure projects like the Lower Thames Crossing and National Grid Reinforcement project there will be funding coming from those for environmental mitigation and there is an opportunity for Thurrock to be quite ambitious and to be clear in what they want to see delivered so they can the make most of the variety of funding opportunities emerging.

Doug McNab confirmed the next steps will be a stakeholder engagement event to present some of the key findings from their initial data gathering and to explore with stakeholders what they think are the key green infrastructure issues and where they think some of the key opportunities are for new green and blue infrastructure projects. They will then be using that information to identify priorities for new strategic GBI projects to inform the local plan and indeed wider investment planning.

Councillor Redsell thanked Doug McNab for the presentation, she commented that as a Council they have put lots of trees in but she was concerned that some of this was coming too late as developers have put up housing developments with no greenery and it was difficult to see what could be done retrospectively.

Councillor Watson thanked Doug McNab for the presentation and stated that she liked the idea of the Green and Blue infrastructure strategy across the borough. She welcomed the idea of getting some of this into the design principles before it goes to planning but she wanted to make sure that it was not just living walls or roofs but actual trees, green spaces and parks being included. Councillor Watson noted that the Lower Thames Crossing would remove 10 miles of green belt land and would therefore be contrary to the Green and Blue Infrastructure strategy of putting in more green and blue infrastructure. Councillor Watson agreed that we should be making more use of the river and she also raised the issue of water management and highlighted that as a lot of Thurrock is on flood plains and there had been recent significant flooding in Stanford-le-Hope she would like this to be taken into consideration in the strategy too.

The Local Plans Manager clarified that the Council are not the decision-making body regarding the nationally significant infrastructure projects and that Doug was alluding to if these proposals were to come forward we still need to have projects lined up so that we can bring benefits to the Community. In respect of water management, they are completing a strategic flood risk assessment and they do have some in house support from a flood risk officer who works with their transportation colleagues who is looking at their site assessment work and some of their policies in terms of how they can capture water better on sites and look at some of those surface water issues and how they can improve them. The Local Plans Manager also confirmed that there are some things they can do about urban greening and looking at how they can retrospectively add green and blue infrastructure to existing urban areas and that’s something through the plan making progress they will be exploring.

Counsellor Redsell raised that she would like to see a reservoir in the strategy to collect some of the rainwater but also to be a place for people to go to and she referred to the Hanningfield reservoir which is a beautiful place to walk around and it also has a tea shop.

Doug McNab agreed that sustainable drainage measures like swales or pools can help to collect and slow the run-off of rainfall and surface water but you can also design them to have a high amenity value and nature value so that is something they would be looking to support and encourage.

The Local Plans Manager confirmed they are also completing an infrastructure delivery plan and as part of that there will be a workshop with the Environment Agency and Anglian Water and one of things they will be discussing is water supply issues.

Councillor Collins thanked Doug for the presentation but commented that there was nothing in there for education purposes and when he was a child he was taken out of class to nature reserves and encouraged to learn about wildlife. At the Coal House Fort they have a nature reserve surrounding it which has 600 different varieties of birds and multiple species of rare flowers growing on the marshes. Councillor Collins also raised the idea of a model farm so children can learn about where food comes from.

Councillor Collins highlighted concerns about flood risk defences and water shortages and referred to a project called reclaim the rain and asked for Doug McNab’s thoughts on this.

Doug McNab responded that he had not heard of reclaim the rain but would look it up.

Doug McNab left the meeting at 20.03

Councillor Redsell proposed and this was seconded by Councillor Collins that a task and finish group should be set up to consider flooding and water. Councillor Redsell commented that there is a lot of work that can be done with officers and members to find out what is going on in Thurrock with water. Councillor Redsell confirmed that the issue is discussed at so many meetings and a task and finish group is needed to just look at the issue of water and flooding. Councillor Collins added that he sits on the Essex Partnership for flood management.

Councillor Watson raised the issue of new developments in old villages who rely on old pipe systems and expressed concern for the additional pressure that will be put on the pipes by the increased demand on them, she suggested a flood strategy for development. Councillor Redsell suggested this should be discussed at the task and finish group if it is set up.

The Local Plans Manager agreed that it was a good idea to complete that piece of work and confirmed she could support in ensuring the right consultants and background evidence teams are in the room to be able to contribute and feed into those pieces of work.

Councillor Collins left the meeting at 20.09