OUTPUTS

To date Landscape Character Assessments have largely been produced in paper report format accompanied by maps at the appropriate scale. Reports will continue to be important but there are now opportunities to produce assessments in a variety of other formats. These include publishing on websites, on CD Roms and possibly on videos, all of which have the potential to make them more lively and accessible to a wider audience. The target audiences for the assessment will be a critical factor in deciding how the results should be produced and disseminated. Topic Paper 4 discusses the options more fully.

Producing an assessment in digital form on the internet or CD Rom greatly improves the ability to update the outputs on a regular basis. This is particularly the case when the whole dataset that underpins the assessment is published in this way, rather than just the digital equivalent of the report. Where resources are limited, the Agencies would prefer to see assessments treated in this way, as open-ended datasets with multiple layers, to which further information can be added over time as and when more information is available. There may still be a place for more traditional reports but they can be expensive to produce and inflexible in terms of using, applying and updating information.

Whatever the form of the output from an assessment it is still important that the summary results of the characterisation process - essentially a map of character types and/or areas and descriptions of their character - are kept separate from outputs involving judgements about landscape character to inform particular decisions.

Getting the brief right
Whether the work is to be carried out by consultants or in-house, it is important that there is a clear brief. The brief should describe the scope of the study as accurately as possible, to provide a common reference point for all concerned. It should specify the scale of the work and the level of detail required, the nature of the decisions the assessment is required to inform, and the nature and extent of stakeholder involvement, distinguishing between communities of interest and communities of place. A well informed brief should also ensure that adequate resources are allocated for the task, either in terms of staff employed and supporting resources made available by public bodies, or number of person days allowed by consultants.

A preliminary field visit should be undertaken during the preparation of the brief, or at least in the very early stage of the assessment. This will allow those involved to become familiar with the nature of the landscape, to understand its geography and to gain a general impression of variations in character. Such a visit will make a brief more realistic, and can also assist in practical tasks such as designing tailored record sheets for use in the main field survey, ensuring that they are appropriate to the particular character of the landscape in question.