Natural England

England has been divided into areas with similar landscape character. These have been called Joint Character Areas (JCAs).

In 1996 the former Countryside Commission and English Nature, with support from English Heritage, produced The Character of England Map. This map combines English Nature's Natural Areas and the former Countryside Commission's Countryside Character Areas into a map of 159 Joint Character Areas (JCAs) for the whole of England. The Countryside Agency published a set of eight regional volumes describing the 159 JCAs which can be ordered from our publications section.

This map provides a picture of the differences in landscape character at the national scale. It is accompanied by character descriptions of each JCA showing the influences which determine the character of the landscape.

The JCAs are a widely recognised national spatial framework, used for a range of applications. Examples include the targeting of Defra's Environmental Stewardship scheme and the Countryside Quality Counts project.

JCAs form part of the data gathered for a Landscape Character Assessment.

The map (below) shows the extent of the JCAs, together with useful contextual information. It is important to remember that the boundaries of the JCAs are not precise and that many of the boundaries should be considered as broad zones of transition.

For further information please contact:
Rachael Mills 01242 533 338
Rachael.Mills@naturalengland.org.uk