Case studies

Landscape character assessment has already been used by CPRE branches with positive results.

Here are two examples

1 CPRE Shropshire used landscape character assessment to influence development plans and capacity studies

In 1999, CPRE Shropshire looked at the open land surrounding the town of Shrewsbury. It wanted to be able to measure the effect of future urban developments and show how to reduce any environmental impacts these may have.

CPRE Shropshire members worked with the county council, building on the council's existing landscape character assessment maps and databases. Decisions about the landscape's capacity and suitability for new developments can now be informed by the mapped findings from the assessment, which are publicly available. Where possible, new developments can be established in areas that minimise impact on landscape.

2 CPRE Kent used landscape character assessment to improve the design of the built environment.

In 2000, CPRE Kent encouraged Ashford Borough Council to use a method called Enquiry by Design to examine a draft development brief for an area south of Ashford. Enquiry by Design is an approach to developing sustainable town extensions and the principles and methods involved are the same as those of landscape character assessment.

Effort was made to look not only at the design of the site, but its relationship to the wider landscape. This work was used in revising draft development plans. The changes made included keeping an area of grassland within the floodplain free from development and re-routing a proposed access road to follow an existing lane, rather than cut across agricultural land.

The redrafted proposal has received approval from the local planning committee, while the methods are being applied to two other sites identified for development.