Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Open Space Audit

The Open Space Audit identified and assessed the Borough's open spaces. This included a factual assessment of their facilities together with an assessment of their character.

For inclusion in the audit, Urban Open Space was defined as:

Open land within 500m of urban areas, which has the potential to provide recreational, environmental, social or economic benefits to communities, regardless of access or ownership. Such land shall not include land within the curtilage of private dwellings or farmland.

The audit began with a desktop study to identify open spaces using up-to-date mapping and aerial photography. Each site was visited and documented using a standard survey sheet. The findings were then entered into a database and analysed, before the Audit underwent public consultation. The survey results, together with conclusions, were published for public consultation to ensure that the Audit was transparent and fair, and covered all of the open spaces. Some new sites were proposed and these have been surveyed and entered into the database.

An update of the Open Space Audit was undertaken in 2008 and has been used to produce a Planning Policy Guidance 17 Assessment document; having undergone a public consultation exercise and having been through the political process for approval, the audit has credibility as a reliable data source. You can view the sites that were identified in the Open Space audit. Urban Open Spaces can be shown on this map by clicking on 'Open Space Categories' under the 'Sites and Landscape' heading.