Natural England

South Coast Plain

• Major urban developments including Portsmouth, Worthing and Brighton linked by the A27/M27 corridor dominate much of the open, intensively farmed, flat, coastal plain. 
• Coastal inlets and 'harbours' contain a diverse landscape of narrow tidal creeks, mudflats, shingle beaches, dunes, grazing marshes and paddocks. From the Downs and coastal plain edge there are long views towards the sea and the Isle of Wight beyond.
• Trees are not a dominant feature - there are some small woods and a few windswept individual trees in the farmland or the occasional poplar shelter belt. 
• A pattern of large arable fields, defined by low hedgerows, are often interspersed by horticultural glasshouse 'estates' and isolated remnants of coastal heath.
• The complex series of creeks, mudflats and shingle beaches along the coastal edge becomes less apparent to the east with the intensively-farmed plain increasingly dominated by disordered seaside towns and leisure developments.

For further details on this character area and for an introduction to the region, please see the PDF documents in the box at the top right hand side of this page.