Enabling a greener, more active city
Building and improving flood defences gives us an opportunity to improve walking and cycling routes along the River Avon, create links with other parts of the city, and make the riverside more accessible, for example, by incorporating walking and cycling links, or green spaces, into the defences themselves. Such defences could also protect and improve historic features and heritage sites, or benefit wildlife and habitats.
As a city, we aim to build more than 33,500 new homes by 2036 and develop more than 60 hectares of land for industry. As development has been a significant driver of loss of wildlife in urban areas, this is both one of the biggest threats to wildlife in the city and one of the biggest opportunities. We need to ensure that we learn lessons from the past and build new houses and transport links that put back lost habitats and wildlife corridors.
The West of England Joint Green Infrastructure Strategy 2020-2030 aims to secure investment in well-planned, managed and functioning green infrastructure so crucial for people, places and nature and a key component in addressing the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.
Strategic Alignments
One City Ecological Emergency
- At least 30% of land in Bristol to be managed for the benefit of wildlife by 2030
- 100% of Bristol’s waterways to have water quality that supports healthy wildlife by 2030
- People and businesses to reduce consumption of products that undermine the health of wildlife and ecosystems around the world