Using Historic Landscape Characterisation

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Using Historic Landscape Characterisation Other strategic documents HLC is a flexible tool, and its contribution has been recognised in a variety of advisory documents. For example, the Axholme Countryside Design Summary (1999), adopted as SPG, states that if development falls within the Trent Levels/Isle of Axholme area, the Axholme HLC should be consulted. The Surrey Design Guide also makes reference to the county HLC. Surrey Design Guide, 2002 © Surrey County Council Surrey Design, A Strategic Guide For Quality Built Environments, 2002 The purpose of this document is to promote the high quality design of new development in Surrey. It aims to supplement national and regional planning policy guidance, and to guide the implementation of the Surrey Structure Plan. Having recognised the value of understanding how the landscape has been shaped in the past in order to make informed decisions about how it can be managed in the future, it refers to the Surrey Historic Landscape Characterisation Project as ‘…county wide information on a GIS base that provides a valuable insight into how landscape types have developed’. Management plans A significant number of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), National Parks and World Heritage Sites are beginning to recognise HLC as a useful source of information about the historic landscape. Their primary interest is in balancing an existing traditional historical narrative and sitespecific approach and in filling the human and cultural landscape gap that exists in most management plans. For example, the historic environment section of the Forest of Bowland AONB management plan has been based on the Lancashire HLC, which has ensured that attention is paid to the whole landscape and not just to specific sites of archaeological interest. As more and more HLC projects are completed across the country in areas that overlap with AONBs, National Parks and World Heritage Sites, its use in this field is likely to increase dramatically. Avebury World Heritage Site Management Plan, 1998 © English Heritage Avebury World Heritage Site Management Plan, 1998 Although this document was prepared without the benefit of an English Heritage county HLC, it demonstrates the principles of using archaeological and historic criteria (tailored mainly towards prehistory) alongside those of land cover and settlement. Eighteen landscape units were identified in a landscape assessment covering an area measuring 35km square. For each there is an explanation of Landform, Landcover and Visual Character, and a Summary of Management Objectives. For example, the Avebury-Silbury Valley unit (C3) includes the following objective: improve hedge structure in the valley bottom and encourage reinstatement of flood meadows. 30
Spatial Planning Development control In many local authorities, HLC mapping is routinely checked alongside the Sites and Monuments Record database (SMR) for responding to planning applications and enquires about the historic environment. For this work, HLC fills in the gaps that exist between the point data of the SMR, as well as providing a landscape context from which to appreciate site-specific information. Numerous examples have demonstrated the usefulness of HLC as a tool that can inform planning decisions, in particular for schemes that are large scale and rural in nature such as new housing estates, roads and pipelines. However, HLC has also begun to look at urban character and the built environment, and in the next few years it will become increasingly relevant for the assessment of planning proposals in towns and cities: in Cornwall, Lancashire and Merseyside, such work is currently being undertaken. Assessing the impact of development upon the landscape HLC is used to gauge the likely impact that development will have upon the landscape, by assessing whether proposals are in keeping with the historic character of the area and whether they have an impact on any of the key cultural attributes. Such information can be used to make an appropriate response to a planning application, whether in support, recommending refusal, or suggesting that it is amended to take into account the needs of the historic landscape. A few examples are set out below. Avebury © Jenny Nord The extensive urban survey character mapping for Burnley, nested in the context of the Lancashire HLC © Lancashire County Council. OS licence 100023320 Agricultural Bye-law terraced housing C19 municipal cemetery C20 hospital C20 industrial/commercial C20 place of worship C20 public C20 recreational C20 school or college C20 transport Canal Church and churchyard Civic Centre Commercial centre Handloom weavers’ settlement Individual housing (1918 to 2003) Industrial workers’ settlement Inter and immediate post-war housing (1918 to c 1950) Late C20 housing (c 1970 to 2003) Late post-war housing (c 1950 to c 1970) Middle-class housing (c1860-1914) Natural Non-textile industry Open ground Plantation Post-medieval urban development Pre-1850 row houses Pre-NHS hospital Public landscape grounds Railway Recreation ground Rural settlement Textile industry Utilities Villa development 31
Page 2 and 3: Using Historic Using Historic Lands
Page 4 and 5: Using Historic Landscape Characteri
Page 66 and 67: 60 Using Historic Landscape Charact
Page 71: Using Historic Using Historic Lands

Using Historic Landscape Characterisation

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?