Neighbourhood Green Corridors

Our countryside is fragmented by buildings, roads and railways so it can be difficult for people and wildlife to move through it. TVERC has used connectivity modelling and interactive workshops to help local communities identify and protect existing green corridors and create new ones.

Brize Norton Neighbourhood Plan group asked Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (TVERC) to identify and map green corridors in their Neighbourhood Plan area.

TVERC identified priority habitats and carried out detailed mapping of habitats and land use for the whole of Oxfordshire, analysed information about Local Wildlife Sites and collated data for Public Rights of Way. 

TVERC modelled connectivity between patches of priority habitats using a cost-distance method. Output of the model showed the connected habitat network for each of these habitats.

Proposed corridors have been identified that run from the northern boundary of the Parish towards the centre and that link the existing Country Park to the centre of the Parish.  Both existing and proposed green corridors converge in the centre of the parish. 

The proposed corridors were then discussed with the local community in a workshop, before being finalised.

These green corridors will be included in the Neighbourhood Plan so they can be protected and enhanced. The corridors will allow people and wildlife to move through the landscape.

They provide a focal point for local conservation effort to aid community cohesion, will increase landscape permeability for wildlife, and help people access the countryside and to experience wildlife first hand.

TVERC has completed similar green corridors projects for Eye and Dunsden, South Leigh, East Challow and Brize Norton parishes.