East Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy 2005/06

East Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy Annual Monitoring Report 2005/06
Policy Commentary
5.33 Whilst take up of Landscape Character
Assessment coverage has now made progress across
the region there are issues as to how these will be
interpreted as criteria based policies in Local
Development Documents, used to help guide the
design and siting of development and whether they
will be formally adopted as Supplementary Planning
Documents (SPD). The Countryside Agency (now
Natural England), with others, has worked with High
Peak Borough Council to develop detailed SPD for
use by Development Control officers to help them
and others interpret landscape character guidance in
order to assess whether development proposals are
helping to protect and enhance character or erode it.
This work, along with developing an understanding
of the Region’s landscape capacity and sensitivity to
accommodate change, needs replicating more
widely.
5.34 The holistic nature of landscape character
needs more recognition. Northamptonshire County
Council’s characterisation work has adopted an
‘environmental character’ approach which looks at
historic character, ecological character and current
landscape character, recognising that character is
very much about a holistic approach and not just
visual character.
5.35 The launch of the Northamptonshire
Environmental Character and Green Infrastructure
Suite in November is a very important step forward
in providing a policy and implementation tool for use
in a variety of circumstances.
5.36 Now that Historic Landscape Characterisation
(HLC) is an acknowledged part of landscape
characterisation, there is a need to monitor progress
on achieving regional coverage. Currently, HLC has
been undertaken in Derbyshire, Northamptonshire
and Nottinghamshire. Leicestershire has started its
HLC project, which also covers Leicester City and
Rutland.
5.37 The existing indicator, whilst acting as a very
useful first step towards gaining a better
understanding of the region’s diverse landscapes,
needs to be refined and further more meaningful
indicators developed. Such indicators need to stem
from the detailed Landscape Character Assessments
that are being prepared across the region and used
to assess characteristic changes in landscape as well
as informing the targeting of regional landscape
enhancement opportunities
Policy 31: Regional Priorities for the Historic
Environment
Development plans and other strategies should
seek to understand, conserve and enhance the
historic environment
Target:
• Number of listed
buildings at risk to
decrease from 2001
levels
Indicator:
• Number of listed
buildings at risk
Results:
5.38 English
Heritage’s Register
of Buildings at Risk
2006 recorded 133
entries of Grade I and
II* buildings in the East
Midlands compared to 134
in 2005. Seven have been
removed and six added from last year. The
number of buildings at risk by East Midlands County
is Derbyshire 41; Leicestershire 16; Lincolnshire 41;
Nottinghamshire 16 and Northamptonshire 19
(www.english-heritage.org.uk/bar) .
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