In 2003 a number of organisations formed the Peterborough Green Grid Partnership in order to work together across their different agendas to try and deliver a joint vision for green infrastructure across the city.
The partnership steering group was made up of representatives from the following organisations:
- Buglife
- Cambridgeshire County Council
- Environment Agency
- Forestry Commission
- Go-East
- Natural England
- Peterborough City Council
- Peterborough Environment City Trust
- The Wildlife Trust
The Partnership Steering Group has since expanded and has representation from the following additional organisations:
Peterborough Local Access Forum
Milton Estates
O & H Hampton
Opportunity Peterborough
EEDA
Froglife
Nene Park Trust
Hanson PLC
Greater Peterborough Partnership
River Nene Regional Park
At an early stage the Partnership identified the need to protect, enhance and link existing and planned green spaces to the south of the city. There was a vision for a ‘Green Park’ encompassing extensive areas to the south and east of Peterborough, which would be a mosaic of parks, open spaces, lakes, woodland and play areas.
In 2006, the Partnership was awarded funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to help deliver practical projects identified in the emerging Green Grid Strategy and this has allowed a number of habitat and access improvements to be carried out, as well as work on engaging local communities in the South Peterborough area. This was also the stage where Peterborough’s Green Grid went through a re-branding in the aim to create a more robust design for all that the partnership hoped to achieve.
‘Natural Networks’ now represents not only the partnership itself, being a network for local organisations working together towards a joint vision, but for the network of high quality well maintained open spaces, wildlife corridors, woodlands and lakes that they hope to achieve through the Green Grid Strategy.