Issue 3

Wider horizons

Mandy Rudd, GiGL Director, introduces us to the myriad opportunities afforded by the development of GiGL’s open space data holdings – its collection and use.

Managing open space data is a relatively new venture for GiGL, and one which presents a whole new set of challenges and opportunities. Developing our open space related data and services is one of our key objectives for this financial year.

Navigating open space strategies

John O’Neil, Senior Planner at the Greater London Authority, gives an overview of how GiGL could help boroughs to meet their obligation to produce an open space strategy

The Mayor’s London Plan sets the strategic context for open space planning throughout London, based on protecting and promoting the network of open spaces.The London Plan recognises the valuable contribution that open spaces play in providing a good quality environment that makes London an attractive place to live, work and visit.

Accessing open space

Sustainable and Accessible Urban Landscapes (SAUL) is a spatial planning project funded under the European Union’s Interreg IIIB* initiative. Partners from seven regions across Northwest Europe, including London, are working together to explore the role of socially inclusive spaces in the sustainable development of metropolitan regions. The London region, led by Groundwork London in partnership with the Greater London Authority and the London Parks and Green Spaces Forum developed the ‘Strategic Parks Project’, an initiative to tackle London’s deficiencies in regional and metropolitan parks.

The view from here

London Bat Group (LBG) is an entirely voluntary, registered charity working throughout the Greater London area to protect and enhance London’s bats. What that means in practice is that LBG is run by a small group of devoted volunteers, all of which have busy professional lives, but we choose to dedicate a large part of our private lives towards raising awareness of bats, and particularly of course bats in London. LBG has been a partner of GiGL since it was first developed in its original form of London Wildlife Trust’s Biological Recording Project, due in large part to one of LBG’s most devoted volunteers, Pete Guest, who also worked for London Wildlife Trust.

Where are our wastelands?

‘Imagine you are walking through a field in summer. You might think you were in the heart of the country, but you could equally be in the middle of London where urban wastelands … previously developed land that has been abandoned by people and reclaimed by nature … bring people closer to nature.’ ‘Brownfield? Greenfield?’ London Wildlife Trust and the London Brownfields Forum, 2002.

News – Issue 3

GiGL online www.GiGL.org.uk is now live and already in use by GiGL’s partners and customers. One of the many outputs of last year’s successful Defra/National Biodiversity Network funded project, the website provides a portal for London biodiversity and open space...