Landscape issues in Nottinghamshire
National policy
Purpose of the guidelines
The meaning of landscape
Method
Using the document
Consultation and review
References
Landscape issues in Nottinghamshire
Since the Second World War conservation initiatives within Britain have largely concentrated on designating and protecting areas of high landscape and wildlife value, such as National Parks, Heritage Coasts, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). At a more local level, Government planning legislation has also enabled local authorities to designate important landscapes and habitats, where special countryside protection policies can apply. Although these local countryside designations carry less weight than national designations, they have mirrored the national approach by focusing conservation on the protected areas.
The protected areas approach has been used in Nottinghamshire for many years. It began with the Sherwood Forest Special Landscape Area in the 1970s and was followed by the introduction of Mature Landscape Areas (MLAs) in the early 1990s. Although these have protected important features and landscapes that might otherwise have been lost, they have been unable to conserve the character of the wider countryside. In recognition of this, the County Council has reassessed its strategic approach to the landscape, and focused attention on the whole countryside, rather than just the protected areas. This reflects the way thinking has developed at a national level, and follows advice provided by the Countryside Commission.1
This manual presents the results of this exercise and links very closely with the Countryside Commission’s Countryside Character Programme (CCP) - a national initiative to express the character of the English countryside. The purpose of the national study, and the Nottinghamshire Landscape Guidelines is to recognise that all landscapes have their own character, whether the emphasis is on the conservation of the “finer” landscapes or the enhancement of more degraded areas. The priority is to enrich the quality of the whole countryside, and people’s enjoyment of it, by conserving its local diversity and distinctiveness. An important point to remember is that, whatever the character of the countryside, it is likely to be of value to someone! These guidelines are intended to supplement our well-established local landscape designations and provide the necessary framework to conserve and enhance the character of all our countryside.
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The Rural White Paper2 has set out the Government’s intention to strengthen the distinctive character of the land and the built environment by placing more emphasis on identifying local characteristics. It promotes the CCP and English Nature’s Natural Areas (NAs) approach as providing the common basis for achieving this. The NAs adopt the same basic approach as the CCP, but with the emphasis on biodiversity and nature conservation. Traditionally nature conservation has concentrated on a network of protected sites such as nature reserves and SSSIs. However, a severe loss of biodiversity has occurred in the wider countryside which has reduced the capacity of the protected sites to maintain viable populations of species. As a result, the NAs seeks to provide a national framework which will enable people to consider habitats, species and natural features in the ecological context in which they occur. The CCP and NAs have now been linked to produce a map of England which reflects the natural and cultural dimensions of the landscape. The map is entitled “(CCX 41) The character of England: landscape, wildlife, and natural features.” The Rural White Paper describes this work as providing, for the first time, a comprehensive and consistent analysis of the English countryside that will help to guide future efforts to conserve and enhance it.
It is intended that the national analysis will provide the framework against which local authorities set their more detailed landscape and ecological assessments. The revised Policy Planning Guidance Note3 (February 1997) attaches significant weight to the countryside character approach, which it sees as the principal method for accommodating necessary change without sacrificing local character. Local planning authorities are asked to take this into account in formulating development plan policies and proposals, not as an additional layer of protection but to help ensure that development respects or enhances the distinctive character of the landscape. The character approach now forms the cornerstone of the Government’s strategic approach for conserving local diversity.
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These guidelines for Nottinghamshire come at an exciting time. It is the first county-wide assessment, providing comprehensive and detailed information on countryside character, to be published since the launch of the national map and CCP. It comes at the same time as the character approach and the concept of local distinctiveness begin formally to enter the planning system. The opportunity now exists for individuals, local communities, public bodies and the private sector to work towards the common aim of strengthening the character of the Nottinghamshire countryside. This can only be achieved if the guidelines are integrated into all decisions that have an impact on that character. The purpose of this manual is to act as the catalyst for this work; accordingly, it should :-
- Form the foundation for future environmental strategy work
- Suggest landscape policies that may be adopted into County, Borough and District Council Local Plans
- Ensure that development control decisions take full account of countryside character
- Provide guidance on countryside character to developers
- Help identify priorities for the conservation, enhancement and restoration of landscape character
- Form the strategic basis for landscape management schemes and plans
- Provide a common base for landscape management advice and grant-aid
- Guide the policies of council departments, other public bodies and private sector organisations
- Form the framework for local initiatives by helping to integrate broad countryside character issues into local decision making and community action, including local strategies for sustainable development (Local Agenda 21)
- Act as a baseline to monitor future change, including the effectiveness of relevant policies and landscape management initiatives
- Enable effective and efficient targeting of limited resources towards landscape management
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The Countryside Commission, who have a national remit to advise on the conservation and enhancement of the English countryside, define the term landscape as referring “primarily to the visual appearance of the land, including its shape, form and colours.”1 It is now widely accepted that this appearance derives from the interaction of many components, both natural and man-made, which in different combinations give rise to landscapes that are distinctive to particular localities. The Commission are careful to stress that the landscape is not purely a visual phenomenon, because its character relates closely to its physiography and history. Hence, there are many dimensions to the landscape “including geology, topography, soils, ecology, archaeology, landscape history, land use, architecture and cultural associations”. Identifying how these factors have influenced the formation, pattern and character of the landscape is the main objective of landscape character assessment. It is through landscape character assessment that local distinctiveness, and strategies for its future conservation and enhancement, can be defined.
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The landscape character assessment has been carried out using methods which conform with guidance provided by the Countryside Commission.1 The guidance outlines a consistent and systematic approach. The character assessment seeks to understand the factors that make one area distinct from another, by a structured examination of geology, topography, soils, vegetation cover and the influence of human exploitation of the land. It operates by grouping areas of similar character into a series of “regional character areas” and “landscape types”. The method involves a comprehensive process of field survey preceded by a detailed and structured desk-based analysis of all the various components that produce differing landscape characters. The forces and pressures for change within each landscape are also assessed to build an understanding of how the landscape is likely to change in the foreseeable future. This leads to the development of a series of management strategies and key recommendations for each landscape type, along with detailed guidelines for the management of the various features and components that are found in each area.
Landscape assessment can be carried out at a variety of scales, with the output of the CCP set between the very broad national scale and the more focused detail at county or local level. The Nottinghamshire Landscape Guidelines is a strategic, county-wide landscape assessment that also provides substantial detail on local character and distinctiveness. It should be used as a framework for even more detailed local assessments, and act as a bridge to the national assessment.
The landscape assessment work that follows has identified ten regional character areas within Nottinghamshire, which further sub-divide into thirty-five landscape types. For the purposes of this report, the following definitions are made:-
Regional character areas: Distinct, geographically specific landscape regions where common physical, historical, ecological and cultural associations impart a sense of unity to the landscape. Well-known examples include the Fens, Yorkshire Dales and White Peak.
Landscape types: Types of countryside which have a unity of character due to particular combinations of landform and landcover and a consistent pattern of characteristic features. Examples include Forest Sandlands, River Meadowlands and Village Farmlands.
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The document has been structured to be as accessible and user friendly as possible. Each regional character area is presented as a “stand-alone” chapter, containing all the relevant background information, visual character assessments and management advice. This means that specific audiences and geographical locations can be effectively targeted.
Each chapter has the following format:
Section 1:
Physical & human influences
- A description of the physical character and historical development of the region.
Section 2:
Visual character of the landscape
- An explanation, via text and illustrations, of the key landscape characteristics of each landscape type.
Section 3:
Landscape evolution and change
- An assessment of the forces that have brought about landscape change in recent decades, and those that are likely to lead to change in the foreseeable future.
Section 4:
Landscape strategies and key recommendations
- The broad vision for the future management of landscape types and the main priorities for maintaining their distinctive character.
Section 5:
Landscape guidelines
- Guidance on the management of individual landscape components and features and a list of commonly occurring native tree and shrub species.
It must be emphasised that the landscape strategies and key recommendations set the highest priorities for conserving the diversity and distinctiveness of the landscape. They are defined for each landscape type because this is the basic unit at which common differences in character occur. The landscape guidelines provide more detail on each region’s individual features and components, and develop certain aspects that have been highlighted in the key recommendations.
Inevitably, the structure of the document has meant that some repetition has been unavoidable. Many of the pressures acting upon the countryside affect all parts of the County, rather than specific regions and, by the same token, certain guidelines are also relevant “across the board”. The “stand-alone” format means that some blocks of text have had to be repeated across chapters.
All regional character area and landscape type names are shown in italics to distinguish them from similar geographical or geological terms. Regional character area names are also shown in bold. Hence Sherwood refers to the Sherwood regional character area, and not the Sherwood Sandstone outcrop, an area of solid geology with a slightly different area.
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This document is intended to help develop an understanding of the Nottinghamshire countryside and to offer advice accordingly. It is not the definitive work, and comments are welcome on all its aspects, including implementation. This is the first comprehensive character assessment to be carried out in the County and it may be that it will be impracticable to implement certain aspects of the advice, or that there should be a change in emphasis in certain areas. The various processes that affect the countryside, and our understanding of them, will also continue to grow and change. Future changes to the agricultural support system will also have a significant effect on what can be achieved. With time this will require that priorities and individual guidelines are reviewed. The manual has therefore been structured to allow for necessary updates, without the necessity for a complete reprint. The loose-leaf format will enable individual pages to be revised and replaced and purchasers to update their copies. The County Council will keep a list of subscribers to this end.
A review of the countryside character work will be initiated in the summer of 1999. This will allow sufficient time for practitioners to become familiar with the guidelines and their practical application. The review will examine such things as structure, technical content, implementation and the status of the work. A questionnaire will be sent out to subscribers and practitioners and their comments will form part of the review process.
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1Countryside Commission. 1993. Landscape assessment guidance (CCP 423).
2Department of Environment. 1995. Rural England: A Nation Committed to a Living Countryside. Cm 3016, HMSO. (The Rural White Paper)
3Department of Environment. Draft Planning Policy Guidance Note PPG7 (Revised). 1996. The Countryside -Environmental Quality and Economic Development.
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