Background

The Council, as a local authority, is required under the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 to carry out a periodic Audit of existing open space provision in our local authority area. This generally requires publicly accessible open space over 0.2 hectares or any other spaces the planning authority considers to be relevant to be surveyed, excluding agricultural and private land.

The Open Space Audit mapping is accompanied by the Audit Main Report, Public Survey Report, and Audit Data Dashboard which outlines the findings of the Audit as well as providing ward level information.

Aberdeen has a variety of blue and green open spaces that are important to our quality of life, benefiting our communities, our environment and our economy. Green spaces can include parks, gardens, playing fields, woodlands, play areas, allotments, and civic spaces and blue spaces include features such as ponds, burns and rivers. They are often combined in features such as rain gardens or Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS). Taken together, these features can form important networks of blue and green infrastructure (BGI) for people, wildlife and public services such as active travel routes, wildlife corridors and surface water management systems.

A periodic Audit provides key information on the types, quality and accessibility of open and green spaces in Aberdeen that are critical to directing greenspace policies, management of spaces, and the interventions of partners as well as help to deliver the outcomes in the Net Zero Aberdeen Routemap, Aberdeen Adapts, our Natural Environment Strategy, the Council Climate Change Plan, the Aberdeen Local Outcome Improvement Plan 2016-2026, and the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.

Aberdeen's open and green spaces are managed by Aberdeen City Council, partners, community groups, volunteers, businesses and other organisations.

How to use the Audit

The Audit findings and publicly available Audit mapping are encouraged to be used by all to help drive positive environmental changes, identify projects and apply for funding for environmental improvements at site, community and city-wide level.

The Audit also assesses the quality of open spaces, through accessibility, attractive and appealing place, health, community value and biodiversity quality indicators, highlighting areas for potential improvement and intervention.

Users can also use the mapping to find a nearby green space or view high level information on a specific site’s quality indicators.

It should be noted that the Audit is a snapshot in time and is not exhaustive. How spaces are used and their quality can change over time. However, periodic updates to the Audit mapping will be made.