FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND
If you are new to Landscape Character Assessment you should concentrate on this main document. After this introductory section it is divided into two parts. The first provides a basic practical guide to what Landscape Character Assessment means and how it is carried out. The second demonstrates the wide range of different uses for such an assessment. The contents of the two parts in more detail are shown in Box 1.2.

NEED MORE INFORMATION ?
The references provide further information on various aspects of Landscape Character Assessment.  Further case studies and topic papers will be added in future. In Scotland the full set of assessments produced through the national programme is published and available from Scottish Natural Heritage [10-38]. A Countryside Character Network has been established and provides a forum for exchanging experience on the use of Landscape Character Assessments. Its newsletters and workshop reports provide a useful range of relevant information.

There is a less formalised Scottish network as well with the relevant local authority officers, which meets with the SNH Landscape Group with occasional seminars on landscape character assessment and applications under SNH's 'Sharing Good Practice' programme.

Also, the Countryside Agency is funding a small number of Landscape Character Assessments to show how Landscape Character Assessment can be undertaken and applied at each level in the hierarchy, from regional to local, all with particular emphasis on stakeholder participation.