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The planning system places an emphasis on undertaking research to inform planning policies. We have prepared and commissioned a number of studies which provide advice and information on open land and biodiversity.

Open land

We have commissioned Arup to undertake a boroughwide Open Land Review (Green Belt, Metropolitan Open Land (MOL), Local Green Space (LGS) and Other Open Land of Townscape Importance (OOLTI)) 2021. The report is to inform the new Local Plan.

Following the publication of these reports, minor clarifications have been made to the final overarching report and the MOL Review Annex Report, through the Errata Report (2023) (pdf, 210 KB). These are to the MOL assessment methodology and a limited number of minor technical corrections to MOL parcel assessments, but the overall results of the assessment remain unchanged.

We have produced a report on the assessment of the proposed Local Green Space Sites (pdf, 1.1 MB) in the new Local Plan.

Previous studies

View earlier research relating to open land:

  • Open Land Review of Metropolitan Open Land and Other Open Land of Townscape Importance Designation (2006)

Biodiversity

We have appointed Salix Ecology to carry out a comprehensive review of sites designated for nature conservation importance in the borough. The review will inform the new Local Plan. The review was completed in two surveys in 2021 and 2022.

There remain pending surveys on a small number of designated and candidate sites. Further work has been completed by Salix Ecology:

Previous studies

View earlier research relating to biodiversity:

You can also view more details about our local habitats including the Richmond Biodiversity Action Plan on our nature conservation page.  

Updated: 21 June 2024

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