Landscape - Character Assessment
What is Landscape?
"Landscape is the physical reality of the environment around us, the tangible elements that give shape and diversity to our surroundings. But landscape is also the environment perceived, predominantly visually but additionally through our senses of smell, touch and hearing. Our appreciation of landscape is affected too by our cultural backgrounds and by personal and professional interests"
Landscape Character Assessment
Landscape character assessment is a technique that has been developed to facilitate systematic analysis, description and classification of the landscape. It involves identification of those features or combinations of elements that contribute to the character of the landscape, thereby enabling the special character and qualities of an area to be understood.
This information allows reasoned consideration of those issues affecting the landscape in order to develop appropriate recommendations for its future conservation and management.
Landscape character assessment can make a valuable contribution to the formation of planning policies, to the allocation of land for development, to development control activities, and to processes such as environmental assessment.
Production of a Landscape Assessment
To produce a landscape assessment the separate layers of information need to be integrated into a single integrated layer, the aspects being overlaid in the following sequence:
- Contextual Information
- Visual and Sensory
- Earth Science
- Biodiversity
- Archaeology and History
- Culture
Through this process distinct Landscape Character Areas can be identified by examining the relationships that exist between Aspects. Individual Area Strategies are then derived from a combination of the Landscape Character Areas and the Management Recommendations and the analysis of Tolerance to Change applied to each Aspect. The Area Strategies will help in the process of managing change in a particular place. All sorts of changes will shape future landscapes and by having the Strategies in place the Authority can ensure that such changes make a positive contribution to the landscape.
Information on landscape character assessments visit Natural England's web site.
Local Goverment Service List Number 597
Email: landscape.recreation@nnpa.org.uk
Telephone: 01434 611537
Fax: 01434 611656
