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CHARACTERISATION
IN PRACTICE
These principles of characterisation have been put into practice, to
varying degrees, in Landscape Character Assessments at a variety of
scales in both England and Scotland. Further details of the various
country initiatives are contained in Boxes 6.5
and 6.6.
In England the Countryside Agency advocates adoption of the
hierarchical approach to Landscape Character Assessment and use of The
Character of England map and associated character area descriptions as
a framework for local authority and more detailed local assessments.
This will allow the national map of character areas to provide a
framework for reporting to Government. It enables a bottom-up flow of
information on landscape character and landscape change to inform
regional planning guidance, regional strategies and the work of the
Regional Development Agencies, and to assist in devising regional and
national priorities for a broad range of policy matters, for example,
agri-environment scheme targeting. Where earlier landscape character
assessments are not reported within this framework they may need to be
re-visited in the future, as resources permit, so that they do. The
Countryside Agency will consider grant aiding local authorities to
achieve this.
In Scotland
the main emphasis has been on the local authority level through the
national programme of Landscape Character Assessment, which began in
1994. Since then the whole of Scotland has been covered and 29
assessments have been completed, identifying 366 local landscape
character types and nearly 4,000 individual local character areas. The
aims of this work were: to develop an inventory of the landscapes of
Scotland, to provide a context for SNH and others' casework, to provide
information for a wide range of people involved in development plans
and landuse policies, and to inform national policy. The results of the
programme have been used to create a national digital dataset of
landscape character types linked to a database of the key
characteristics for each type and the main forces for change.
Scotland
is fortunate to already have complete coverage of the country at a
reasonably detailed level in a published series of reports and to have
a GIS database6,
which together are a rich source of information about the Scottish
Landscape. At the national level government departments, agencies and
other organisations can use the high level information, together with
the framework of the Natural Heritage Futures, to deal with strategic
land use and development issues which may influence landscape character.
Local
authorities in Scotland have a valuable
resource in the reports of the national
programme and many are making use of them for
a variety of applications, but particularly in landscape capacity
studies for various types of development pressure. They are important
also in providing a starting point for more detailed assessments of
particular areas, where specific issues arise. SNH is actively
promoting use of this resource, providing advice and guidance on how
the assessments should be used, and taking a lead in new developments
in this area.
From characterisation to judgement
It is possible that a Landscape Character Assessment could stop at the
characterisation stage. The resulting map of landscape types and/or
areas, and the accompanying descriptions of character, would then stand
as a neutral, relatively value-free summary of the current character of
the landscape. In this form it could help to raise awareness of the
distinctive character of an area and to encourage appreciation of
variations in this character. It could play a role in education,
information and promotion, helping people to understand and appreciate
the landscape around them. Beyond this, if an assessment is to play a
part in informing decision-making, an approach to making judgments based
on character must be developed. This is the subject of the next chapter.
6 This database is now available to
all staff in SNH Area offices and is being
further refined for external access via the
SNH website for late 2004.
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