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Approach

The Landscape Character Assessment component follows the method promoted by Natural England through ‘An Approach to Landscape Character Assessment’ (2014) which embeds the principles of the European Landscape Convention (ELC) within it. The guidance identifies five key principles for landscape assessment:

• Landscape is everywhere and all landscape and seascapes have character.
• Landscape occurs at all scales and the process of Landscape Character Assessment can be undertaken at any scale.
• The process of Landscape Character Assessment should involve an understanding of how the landscape is perceived and experienced by people.
• A Landscape Character Assessment can provide a landscape evidence base to inform a range of decisions and applications.
• A Landscape Character Assessment can provide an integrating spatial framework – a multitude of variables come together to give us our distinctive landscapes.

The components of landscape character are organised into three main categories, reflecting the ‘landscape wheel’ illustration in Chapter 1:

• Natural
• Cultural/social.
• Perceptual

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Assessment Process

The process for undertaking the study involved several key stages as described below.

Stage 1: Review of existing LCA studies

Initial reviews of the existing 1995 Cherwell District Landscape Assessment, the 1998 Countryside Design Summary SPD and the 2004 Oxfordshire Wildlife and Landscape Study were carried out.

The 1995 classification into eight LCAs has been retained for this update. Boundary alterations have been limited to minor adjustments, principally to reflect the expansion of the district’s main settlements since 1995, rather than any significant reworking of the LCA subdivision.

The additional subdivision of the district into landscape types has not been retained, as it is not considered to aid the use of the assessment. However, reference is made to the landscape types defined in the Oxfordshire Wildlife and Landscape Study (OWLS) in order to convey variations within an LCA. This is a simpler set of landscape types than the 1995 study, representing a more recent subdivision of the landscape, with names which generally refer to land use and landform and which help to convey the general pattern of the landscape.

Stage 2: Methodology and pilot assessment

A draft methodology and pilot assessment were produced for comment by Cherwell District Council. This indicated the layout, components, and level of detail to be provided for each LCA profile.

Stage 3: Consultation inputs

A consultation process was undertaken to elicit the views of a range of ‘stakeholders’ on two key aspects of landscape character:

• What is valued about the landscape, and why?
• What changes are affecting the landscape?

CDC provided a list of stakeholders, which encompassed government advisory bodies such as Natural England and Historic England, CDC officers and neighbouring local authorities, local groups with an environmental focus, local councillors and parish councils.

Stakeholders were offered the opportunity to respond to these questions, or to provide other thoughts on the study, via a consultation website or by email. The website provided additional information about the study, a link to read the 1995 Cherwell District Landscape Assessment, and the facility to view the LCAs on map and to interactively add markers to the map and provide comments associated with those locations.

An understanding of these aspects of landscape is key to providing assessment profiles that will be of value in helping to inform development planning decisions and in seeking landscape enhancement.

Stage 4: First draft analysis

Draft profiles were produced for each LCA, using the structure described under the Landscape Character Area Profiles heading below.

The start point for the analysis was a review of the information set out in the Cherwell District Landscape Assessment, the Countrywide Design Summary and the OWLS.

In tandem with this a wide range of up-to-date mapping information was collated in a Geographical Information System (GIS) database. Data types and sources are listed in the table below.

This data together with feedback received from the consultation process and additional desktop analysis was used to produce initial draft profiles for each LCA. These profiles were then reviewed through a programme of fieldwork, to verify desktop findings and consultation inputs and to identify any characteristics not reflected in the 1995 study.

Stage 8: Final report and website

The final report has taken into account feedback from the Council following issue of the draft report, and outputs have also made accessible to the public via a series of web pages. Aided by interactive mapping, the web pages allow the reader to target information for a specific location, and to navigate between different elements of the landscape character assessment and the wider landscape evidence base.

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Assessment Outputs

In keeping with the 1995 Cherwell District Landscape Assessment, the revised Landscape Character Assessment presents its analysis at an LCA level. The individual LCA profiles, which are presented in Appendix C, are structured as follows:

Summary of Location and Landscape Character

A summary paragraph explaining its location and defining landscape character is followed by a bullet point list of key characteristics. These summarise the combinations of landscape components which help to give an area its distinctive sense of place.

A context map (1.25,000 OS base) shows the LCA in relation to the other defined character areas.

Representative Photos

The list of key characteristics is followed by a series of four representative photos, each accompanied by a brief description.

Description

Bullet points list characteristics relating to each of the following nine landscape components (where applicable):

• Natural characteristics
  • Landform (including geology and soils)
  • Hydrology
  • Semi-natural land cover
• Cultural/social characteristics
  • Land use
  • Settlement
  • Infrastructure
  • Historic character
• Perceptual characteristics
  • Views
  • Associations

Valued qualities

A bullet point list is provided for valued qualities. Each entry indicates why the quality in question is valued – this may be because it is associated with distinctiveness/scarcity, because of its condition or because of its function. The latter relates to functions associated with landscape character, not to functions which provide benefits not associated with landscape character; so recreational value where landscape/views is a key element is a functional value. Biodiversity value is relevant if it adds to the experience of landscape. Functional value of producing food or renewable energy, or storing carbon or water, is not.

Maps

A series of maps supports the LCA description and list of valued qualities:

• Landform and water – height-shaded topography, with flood zones and watercourses.
• Semi-natural land cover.
• Cultural heritage designations.
• Level of tranquillity – taken from mapping produced for the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) and Natural England in 2007.
• Overlap between the LCA and LCTs defined in the 2004 OWLS.

Forces for change

‘Forces for change’ are listed in bullet point format. These include changes that have affected the landscape in recent times, and changes that can be expected to affect it in the foreseeable future, including likely impacts of climate change. Each bullet point indicates the causes of change and makes reference to any valued qualities that are affected.

Landscape strategy and guidelines

To provide guidelines to minimise adverse landscape change, or enhance the existing landscape, a strategy for the LCA is set out. Recognising the carbon net zero target, the inevitability of climate change and the competing needs for land use, it is expected that landscape change will occur. All landscapes evolve and change over time. Strategy statements reflect this, rather than providing guidelines which just advise on avoidance of development or change.

The strategy and guidelines note ‘target’ characteristics and valued qualities, with reference to forces for change. Guidelines for each LCA are set out as bullet points beneath each element of the landscape strategy. They are a tool to guide development/land uses and environmental improvements in a way that understands and responds to variations in landscape character, and which protects and enhances special qualities and local distinctiveness.