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Countryside Agency Archive

Breadcrumbs

Translating landscape character into criteria-based policies in the High Peak

High Peak Borough Council, Derbyshire County Council and the Peak District National Park Authority worked with Natural England’s founding body the Countryside Agency to translate the principles of the Derbyshire’s Landscape Character Assessment into detailed and practical guidance that has been adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document.

The project also developed a methodology as to how ‘landscape’ could form the basis of criteria based policies suitable for incorporation within the High Peak Local Development Framework. The project was supported  by planning and landscape consultants, The Planning Cooperative and Countryscape.

Context
Large areas of Derbyshire’s High Peak are designated in the current Local Plan as Special Landscape Areas, protected for the quality of the landscape. In line with new government guidelines, the research aimed to move away from these designations, in order to ensure that all countryside and landscapes are managed sustainably for the future, regardless of their perceived quality and location.

The aim is to provide specific guidance in rural areas, so that all development is well designed and inclusive, in keeping with its location and sensitive to the character of the countryside.

The Derbyshire Landscape Character Assessment provided the basis for developing a methodology for a spatial framework to guide positive planning policies and encourage better quality and more sustainable development.

This more sensitive and positive approach will provide sufficient protection for areas that were previously designated, as well as encompassing areas that were previously undesignated, therefore supporting the countryside as a whole.

Main Findings
In producing a Supplementary Planning Document for High Peak it was found that both the workshops with residents and stakeholders and the field work undertaken to observe common characteristics of the built environment within each landscape character type were essential processes in developing the document. 

The workshops demonstrated the inherent understanding and appreciation of landscape character (which future development should aim to reflect and enhance) while the fieldwork provided ‘ground truthing’ for desk based assessments.   

It was also concluded that relevant policies saved from the High Peak Local Plan such as those on countryside development and landscape character and design were already criteria-based and could be refined and used in conjunction with the SPD to bring about higher quality and more sustainable development.   This approach could negate the need for the existing local landscape designation policy. 

The report goes on to recommend that rather than a district-wide vision, a vision for each landscape character type could be produced, enabling policies to be more reflective of the needs of different areas and encouraging and enhancing local distinctiveness. Follow-up work on the criteria-based policies at district and county levels is a possibility, subject to the availability of time and resources.