Landscape Statement – Vision

Falkirk Greenspace is a framework for the long-term transformation of Falkirk’s peri-urban and urban greenspaces, which in the early 1990s were blighted by post-industrial decay, poor access and habitat fragmentation. It has involved multiple projects which have been delivered by many different partners over a period of 30 years, but all driven by a common vision of a connected network of inspiring, nature rich and healthy spaces, which envelop and  bring multiple benefits to our communities.

Some of these projects – the Falkirk Wheel, the Kelpies, Helix Park and the John Muir Way – have attracted national and international attention, but equally important has been the myriad of lesser interventions including community woodland creation and management, park enhancement, and public art/interpretation celebrating the important but often neglected heritage of the area.

Falkirk Greenspace was a pioneering approach, embodying the principles of green networks and nature-based solutions long before these terms were in common usage. 30 years on, the initiative demonstrates the value of a consistent and long-term policy commitment to urban landscape renewal, embedded in successive development plans and delivered through incremental but joined up investment. It has been fundamental to the economic revitalisation of the area and its burgeoning visitor economy, but it is also a source of pride for local people, who have been closely involved in its planning and delivery, and who consistently cite greenspace and path networks as the one of the most valued aspects of the area. 

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How does this project deliver the principles of the charter?

1. Collaboration

Partnership has been at the heart of Falkirk Greenspace from the outset. The core collaboration has been between the local authority and GAT (and its predecessors), with Falkirk Council bringing its strategic planning function, public land and core funding to the table, and marrying this with with GAT’s strengths in design, delivery, consultation and fundraising.

However, many other partners have contributed across a range of projects. Scottish Canals have been fundamental to the rejuvenation of Falkirk’s two canals through the Millenium Link and the Kelpies. Callendar Estate has worked with the Council to enhance management, access and recreation across its extensive estate to the south of Falkirk. NHS Forth Valley were partners in the transformation of the designed landscape around the new Forth Valley Royal Hospital into an accessible and healing setting for the core clinical facility. Partnership with private developers on strategic housing sites has delivered some key linking greenspaces.

The enthusiasm and knowledge of local people has also been integral to the transformation, exemplified by the Zetland Park project in Grangemouth where the Friends of Zetland group were initiators and partners in this award-winning restoration of a neglected but much-loved Victorian park.

2. Dynamism

Falkirk Greenspace has been characterised by its flexible and dynamic approach. It is a spatial framework, which has adapted to changing policy priorities, organisational change, funding streams and local needs. This has been the secret to its longevity.

In its early life it was a free-standing local initiative with a focus on woodland creation, landscape renewal, and access. Over time it has embraced and been re-energised by association with other wider projects such as the Millennium Link and the Central Scotland Green Network. Latterly the focus of projects has been increasingly on climate mitigation and resilience, and nature recovery, as exemplified by the sustainable grass management project in our parks and the Climate Forth project currently being progressed by the Inner Forth Landscape Partnership.

Innovation and experimental approaches to urban landscape change has also been central to Falkirk Greenspace, reflected in the awards which individual projects and the wider initiative have won over the years.

3. Diversity

Despite its compact scale, Falkirk and it surrounding settlements host a diverse mix of peri-urban landscapes and landscape challenges. We have the legacy of a long and celebrated industrial past, an urban fringe under considerable development pressure, a network of remnant and generally neglected estate landscapes, major communication and service corridors, important historic and cultural landscapes such as the Antonine Wall, river corridors, and coastal estuary.

Falkirk Greenspace has responded to this mosaic with a commensurate diversity of projects and approaches, mitigating the negative effects of industrial decline, enhancing and linking our underutilised and undervalued assets, building connected greenspace into planned urban growth, and above all, reconnecting people to nature and these revitalised landscapes.

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What's Next

We expect to undertake a review of the Falkirk Greenspace Strategy within the next couple of years, in tandem with the review of the Falkirk Local Development Plan. But in the meantime, the work continues, with gaps in the network still to join up. There will be an increasing focus on the management and maintenance of the assets which have been created over the past 30 years, on the role of community and third sector organisations, and on tackling the twin climate and nature crises which are at the heart of National Planning Framework 4.

More about this project

Image Credits:

Falkirk Council