In 2002, the Countryside Agency, in partnership with Oxford City Council, commissioned Land Use Consultants to produce a Character Assessment of Oxford City and its setting in recognition of the importance of the city's landscape and townscape and t...

A Character Assessment of Oxford in its Landscape Setting

Best practice objectives of town and country planning and design need to be addressed in a way appropriate to local character. The principal aim for the future must be to manage change so as to take opportunities to enhance as well as conserve our environment, and this applies as much to the rural-urban fringe as anywhere else.


The character based approach can help to accommodate necessary change without sacrificing local character and ensure that future change in and around our towns and cities leads to the enhancement of the settlement and its setting.

The Countryside Agency, in partnership with Oxford City Council, commissioned Land Use Consultants to carry out this Character Assessment of Oxford City and its setting in recognition of the importance of the city's landscape and townscape and the changes that it faces. The Agency's primary objective in commissioning the research was to extend the principles of character assessment, already well developed for rural areas, to towns and cities. A secondary objective was to develop a methodology that could assist in securing the long-term protection and enhancement of urban environments, and their setting.

Content of the Report 

At the outset the context for the study, and the study methodology, is explained. The importance of stakeholder consultation - which figured prominently in the middle of the study - is stressed.

Part 1 of the report identifies the main influences on the contemporary landscape of Oxford, including its broader landscape setting within the County, the topographic, geological and ecological conditions, human influences and issues relating to the management of future change.

Part 2  explains the underlying approach to  landscape characterisation, and the process of identifying landscape types. The study identifies and describes 52 discrete character areas in and around Oxford - character areas are geographically specific areas of a landscape/townscape type which have their own unique character or 'sense of place'. Each of the 52 character area descriptions sets down the important features that need to be conserved and further improvements that can be made are also identified.

Part 3  explains how the character area assessment can be related to landscape and townscape policy generation in the Oxford Local Plan. The descriptions provide useful information for helping to formulate policies, on future development for example, in these character areas and should support development control decisions and judgements on design and aesthetic considerations. This section of the report also sets out a method for valuing the character areas in terms of their landscape and townscape sensitivity, using 7 criteria covering landscape quality, biodiversity value, historic integrity, the extent of inter-visibility, presence or absence of open space, re-creatability of the landscape and townscape, and overall sensitivity. 

BECAUSE OF THE SIZE OF THIS DOCUMENT (THERE ARE MANY DIAGRAMS, MAPS AND IMAGES) IT IS NOT AVAILABLE ON THIS WEBSITE. CDs OF THE STUDY ARE AVAILABLE FROM CHRISTINE TUDOR AT NATURAL ENGLAND - christine.tudor@naturalengland.org.uk