Special Plan of the Green Belt of Terrassa

The Special Plan of the Green Belt of Terrassa (Anella Verda de Terrassa) aims to arrange and regulate the territory of the Green Belt of Terrassa in Spain and establish environmental protection measures for natural elements and the landscape and the conditions under which public uses and economic activities are developed. Approved in January 2020, the Plan is a city project that counted on the participation of citizens, users, owners, and those who live and work in its territory to be successful. The Special Plan covers all the non -urbanizable land of Terrassa, except the land declared under the Natural Park of Sant Llorenç del Munt i la Serra de l'Obac through Decree 106/1987 of 20 of February 1987, as those lands are regulated through the Special Plan of protection of the physical environment and the landscape of the natural park. Therefore, the surface regulated by the Special Plan of the Green Belt is 3622 ha. However, actions to protect, manage and restore the Green Belt of Terrassa initiated in 2012 as a result of the demands of environmental organizations to protect the space.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Dedicated strategy, plan, or law

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Soil quality
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The Special Plan reinforces the main objectives of the Green Belt, which are to promote the values of the landscape and conserve them, to recover the agricultural functionalities of the area and their potential, to promote ecological connectivity and conserve biodiversity and promote a sustainable and respectful public use of the space.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

Blue areas

Derelict areas

Good practice characteristics:

Effective

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Multifunctional nature-based solution support

Governance

Non-governmental actor(s)

Initiating body:

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The idea of the Green Belt was born in 2011 within the Environmental Group for the protection of natural spaces of Terrassa (Grup per la Protecció dels Espais Naturals de Terrassa, Gpenat) during a debate at the Hiking Center of Terrassa (Centre Excursionista de Terrassa), to which the candidates of the political parties to the upcoming municipal elections were invited. The Green Belt proposal was promoted on the basis of the Declaration for the quality of the landscape and the natural and agricultural spaces of the Green Belt of Terrassa, signed on October 20th, 2012, and widely accepted by community-led organizations and citizens of Terrassa. As a result of the Declaration, an intense process of public debate was launched through the Green Belt Table, within the framework of the Municipal Environmental Council (a municipal participatory body that deals with environmental issues). During the process of public participation conveyed through the Green Belt Table, the diagnostic documents corresponding to the three functionalities of the space (ecological and natural functionality, economic functionality and social functionality and public use) were elaborated, and 121 actions were discussed, specified and validated. The Green Belt Table meets periodically once/twice a year with the possibility of creating working groups to deal with specific topics. Finally, the promotion of the Green Belt was included in the 2012-2015 Mandate Plan of the municipal government. Several urban planning actions were done by the Terrassa City Council to promote the Green Belt, such as a modification in the Municipal Urban Planning (Pla d'Ordenació Urbanística Municipal, POUM), the approval of an Advance (Avanç) of the Special Plan for the management of the Green Belt in May 2014 which specified the management objectives of the spaces of the Green Belt and the draw up of the Special Plan. The Special Plan was officially approved by the Territorial Commission of Urban Planning of the Metropolitan Arch of Barcelona of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Comissió Territorial d'Urbanisme de l'Arc Metropolità de Barcelona) in January 2020.

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs

Coalition

Details about the implementation:

The Special Plan establishes that the Action Program of the Green Belt will specify the actions to undertake. Their development is to be based on the economic resources of the City Council of Terrassa, the different forms of financing that they can obtain, and the actions that can be agreed with other actors and public administrations. As a whole, this will determine the investment capacity and availability of resources for the management of the Green Belt. An order of priorities is established in three phases for the actions to be performed, in accordance with their urgency or need and with their sequence, i.e. when they require to be executed previously to the execution of other actions. Each phase lasts 5 years. Previously, a Management Plan of the Green Belt (Pla de Gestió) was elaborated that lists, describes, programs in time and financially quantifies actions necessary to achieve the objectives of the Green Belt. Among these actions are the establishment of a 35km hiking path that surrounds the city of Terrassa with its specific signaling, several spaces with stone benches with orienting and informational panels, and some viewpoints with panoramic panels to identify the elements of the territory. This Management Plan was never officially approved but served as an internal guideline for municipal technicians to undertake the actions. Although the Special Plan was officially approved in 2020, actions to protect, manage and restore the Green Belt of Terrassa initiated in 2012 as a result of the demands of environmental organizations to protect the space.

How did the government support the instrument?:

In order to make the Green Belt formalized into public policy, the City Council Plenary approved the elaboration of two documents in the session of December 18th, 2014: a) a specific modification of the Municipal Urban Planning Plan (Pla d'Ordenació Urbanística Municipal, POUM) in the area of the Green Belt of Terrassa, which carried out the modifications of land qualifications, the land regime adjustments provided for in the Special Plan, and the new regulation of uses and constructions. This planning modification became necessary in the process of drawing up the Special Plan, noting that certain prescriptions required an alteration of the POUM and, consequently, the simultaneous processing of its punctual modification. b) The Special Plan of the Green Belt, which specified the conditions of environmental protection, a detailed regulation of the land qualifications established in the punctual modification of the POUM and included also a Catalog of farmhouses and an inventory of buildings on undevelopable land.

Financing

Budget:

1 000 000€ - 5 000 000€

Details about instrument financing:

The City Council has a detailed list of indicators from 2018 to 2021 which includes the investment and expenditure of the Green Belt. These costs are classified as investments and expenditures for adapting spaces (€30,703), on works for environmental improvements (€579,359), maintenance of the natural environment (€810,554) and cleaning and clearing tasks (€354,527).

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

There are two types of follow-up: annual follow-up and a more detailed follow-up every 5 years. The annual follow-up is based on the list of indicators that the Action Program proposes for the strategic objectives and the actions and programs to be developed, so that at the end of the year the follow-up allows comparing the achievements with the established goals, and determining the contributions of the different actions. For each action or program, the tasks carried out, the resources used and the time invested are monitored. Comments, complaints or suggestions from citizens, users and other interested parties in the territory are recorded and reviewed annually. The annual monitoring guides the planning of the following year, so that unfinished projects can be included and the time and resources necessary for the development of new actions and programs can be established.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Yes

Every 5 years, an exhaustive review of the objectives of the Action Program is carried out to assess their achievement, the economic costs and the benefits generated. This review is carried out not only based on the indicators, but also taking into account all the available information, and guides the changes in the objectives defined in the Action Program and the strategies used.

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

The City Council has a detailed list of indicators from 2018 to 2021 which shows some of the outcomes and impacts such as, inter alia, 13 new urban gardens, the 13 entities that participate in the urban gardens program, the recovered agricultural area and the promotion of agricultural products of the area, 388602 m2 of recovered stream lines in 2021, an increase of the number of stewardship agreements (10 agreements in 2021), and indicators showing the increase tendency of the presence of species of birds and their populations. The participatory process is another achieved outcome, the good relationship with the private owners of the land belonging to the Green Belt and the agreements reached with them. There are some indicators related with sports activities which show that an increased number of people use the area for recreational and sports activities. Environmental education activities have been developed within the space.

Success factors and lessons learned:

One of the key success factors to the Plan has been the existence of a political will to promote the Green Belt and the incorporation of the Green Belt as an objective in the different municipal mandates. The success of the participatory process has been key and the initial push of the Green Belt by local environmental groups added legitimacy to the process and the policy in itself. Environmental awareness raising among the local population through many years to make them aware that they have a natural space beyond the natural park. Given that 90% of the land is private property, the establishment of agreements with private landowners for implementing the actions has been key. The relationship with neighboring municipalities to ensure ecological connectivity beyond Terrassa's municipal area although the Green Belt is located within its municipal boundaries. The consistency of the policy instrument and the Green Belt project with largest planning figures, such as the Territorial Plans and the Master Plan of the Plana del Vallès. The main challenges have been the lack of budget in certain moments, particularly due to the Covid-19 pandemic and some difficulties in agreeing with the private landowners. The key takeaway messages to promote an instrument like this in a similar large city would be to promote a constant consensus with the actors involved, especially private landowners, and promote citizen participation.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Terrassa City Council (2019). Pla Especial de l'Anella Verda de Terrassa. Memòria i normativa. Àrea de Territori i Sostenibilitat.

Interview(s):

Natural Resources Service and Sustainability of the City Council of Terrassa (Cap del Servei de Recursos naturals i Sostenibilitat, Servei de Medi Ambient Urbanisme i sostenibilitat, Ajuntament de Terrassa)

Further documents

Documents:

Pla Especial Anella verda Terrassa_Memòria_i_normativa.pdf

Weblinks:

https://anellaverda.terrassa.cat/que-es/

Photos

Ayuntamiento de Terrassa