‘But who’s going to pay for it?’ Contemporary approaches to green infrastructure financing, development and governance in London, UK

ABSTRACT

Green infrastructure (GI) research has grown in prominence as planners, politicians and environmental specialists have promoted its socio-economic and ecological value in urban environments. However, as the pace of growth has continued so has the exploration of how GI can mitigate the impacts of poor air and water quality, promote improved quality of place and support economic prosperity. Unfortunately, investments can be undermined by weak organisational understandings of the financial and societal value of GI. Consequently, we identify a historical reluctance by decision-makers and developers to support GI, partially based on the outdated appreciation of economic-ecological value compared to other built infrastructure. To examine how cities respond this paper discusses GI as a ‘boundary object’ aligning divergent understandings of the ongoing challenges and responsibility for GI funding. Using an examination of public, private and environment sector practice in London (UK), the paper argues that opportunities exist to align alternative funding mechanisms using ‘GI’ to promote cooperation between economically and socio-ecologically focussed stakeholders.

KEYWORDS:

• Stakeholders
• financing
• boundary object
• environment
• developers

Acknowledgements

All data collection conforms to University of Manchester ethical approval regulations including approval via its Ethical Approval Decision-Making Tool. All participants gave informed consent, via anonymised reporting, to be used in public forums/publications. Names/organisations have been anonymised accordingly.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The third sector refers to organisations comprising non-governmental and non-profit organizations including charities, volunteer groups and cooperatives.

2 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are a vehicle for coordinating business-led responses to the needs of a defined area/geographical boundary, and are funded via mandatory business subscriptions. Each BID is established via a ballot and are subject to renewal every five years. London has 51 BIDs split between those with a high-street/town centre focus (N:44) and those focussing on industrial areas (N:7). The first BID in London was established in 2005 and the most recent was established in 2016. BIDs in London receive an average of £24.9 million total income from their business levies, work with over 61,000 companies (with 905,000+ employees). Although limited in size their roles include promoting promotion dialogues between local businesses, the GLA/LPAs and other organisations to enhance economic, social and environmental opportunities (Future of London and Rocket Science 2016). This mediation role is critical to the success of BIDs, as act as conduits between the strategic objectives of the GLA and LPAs, and the delivery of economic opportunity for local businesses.

3 London comprises 33 administrative bodies all of whom hold various land holdings, capital/revenue reserves and have different socio-economic profiles.

4 Colour in this instance refers to the political allegiance of each borough. Those considered blue would be controlled by the centre-right Conservative party and those labelled red the centre-left/left Labour party.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was received from the Valuing Nature Placements Fund supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) (2017/18) and was completed with assistance from the GLA.

Notes on contributors

Ian Mell

Ian Mell is a Reader in Environmental & Landscape Planning at the University of Manchester. His research focusses on the intersection of policy, practice and funding for Green Infrastructure. This examines the role of alternative funders, forms of urban greening, and policy evaluations in the development of more sustainable urban locations in the UK and internationally. His work has been funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Programme, Defra, Natural England and the Newton Fund.