Strategic Landscape Planning: Assessment and Strategy

Assessment and Strategy for Strategic Landscape Planning

As a developer, you may need to integrate strategic landscape planning from the early stages of your project. By doing this, you can support better outcomes in your environmental design, land use and spatial planning, and ensure that informed decision-making aligns with your strategic objectives and the dynamic nature of the planning context.

The element of strategic landscape planning could be helpful if you’re appealing a planning refusal, defending a planning proposal, contributing to a garden village or strategic scale development, developing near a sensitive landscape or designated landscapes such as a national park, promoting a large greenfield site for allocation in a local plan, or wanting to enhance a regeneration scheme.

Between preparing for a development, conducting a landscape appraisal or townscape appraisal, or supporting a local planning or designing framework, Arbtech can help. Our planning-focused services cover all areas of landscape surveys, and when it comes to strategic landscape planning, we can provide you with a strategic landscape assessment and/or strategic landscape strategy as required.

Strategic Landscape Assessment

What is a Strategic Landscape Assessment?

A strategic landscape assessment is an evaluation of the existing conditions, sensitivities and value of a rural or urban landscape to inform spatial decision-making in a development.

An assessment establishes the landscape baseline by identifying landscape character types, assessing both likely effects and potential effects, and offering guidance on mitigation measures and design considerations.

It can be arranged as a standalone service or as a component in other surveys, offering more than a standard landscape survey through integrating planning policy, strategic development goals, the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process, and visual analysis.

Purpose of an Assessment

As with many landscape surveys, a strategic landscape assessment will identify cultural, ecological and visual sensitivities across the development site, as well as understand both the constraints and opportunities for development. It also supports the process of identifying opportunities to enhance landscape character and minimise negative effects.

In a strategic landscape assessment specifically, the results and recommendations will help to support applications for planning permission, masterplans, action plans and policy documents while providing a foundation for design and land use proposals. The insights from an assessment are then used to affect landscape character in a way that aligns with strategic environmental assessment and landscape objectives.

Scenarios Calling for an Assessment

Examples where an assessment could be needed include:

• Arranging Early-Stage Visioning for Local Plans and Neighbourhood Frameworks
• Evaluating Renewable Energy Development Sites with Significant Environmental Effects
• Informing Public Realm and Placement Strategies
• Preparing a Development Site for a Planning Application or Ecological Impact Assessment (EIA)
• Supporting Green Belt or Landscape Capacity Studies

Applicable Clients

Assessment Methodology

Stages in the strategic landscape assessment:

1. Project Scoping

• Confirming the Area of Study and Client Objectives
• Defining the Purpose of the Assessment
• Understanding the Context of Relevant Planning and Landscape Policies (including cultural heritage and SEA objectives)

2. Desk-Based Study

• Reviewing Ecology, Hydrology, Land Cover and Topography Data
• Reviewing Existing Designations
• Reviewing Landscape Character Assessments (LCAs) and Landscape Sensitivity Assessment Reports
• Reviewing Local and National Policy Documents and Referencing Guidance from Natural England and the European Landscape Convention

3. Field Survey and Site Appraisal

• Analysing the Site and the Surrounding Area
• Gauging Overlap with Neighbouring Open Land Settlement Patterns and Surrounding Settlements
• Noting Key Receptors and Landscape Features (including locally important features)
• Recording Condition, Enclosure, Perception and Tranquillity Properties

4. Assessment and Analysis

• Assessing Landscape Sensitivity and Value
• Clarifying Landscape Character Areas and Zones within the Development Site
• Picking Out Prominent Edges, Potential Impacts and Visual Containment Considerations
• Setting Out the Capacity for Development and Changes to the Development Site (Optional)
• Using Assessment Criteria to Evaluate Landscape Effects and Inform Decisions

Outcomes

Once an assessment has been completed, it will be possible to achieve a clear understanding of the landscape context through a better knowledge of the development site’s character, contextual qualities, setting and visual envelope, and an insight into the landscape’s capacity for landscape change, condition, sensitivity and value. The mapped constraints and opportunities will detail key features such as designations, edges, natural assets and viewsheds across GIS-based plans, opening up options for areas suitable or unsuitable for development.

With a report, the outcomes from an assessment will help to reduce risk by flagging constraints related to the landscape, minimising the likelihood of seeing issues with the final design or falling short in securing planning consent. A strategic landscape assessment report can then be submitted to the local planning authority or county council as part of the planning application or alongside local plan representations or EIA reports. It will be able to demonstrate compliance with policies that support landscape character, protection and visual impact, inform other landscape surveys and sensitivity studies, and provide a basis for a strategic landscape strategy or masterplan.

Strategic Landscape Strategy

What is a Strategic Landscape Strategy?

A strategic landscape strategy is a plan for how a development site, corridor or settlement should evolve over time, usually based on the earlier findings from a strategic landscape assessment.

It can also be created without a prior survey if the site is already well documented or if a desk study will suffice.

Either way, a strategy will define design responses, land use strategies and spatial principles in a way that supports long-term planning success and aligns with SEA objectives.

Purpose of a Strategy

Sharing similarities with other strategies to support the landscape during developments, a strategic landscape strategy aligns with landscape policy frameworks, local plans and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), while guaranteeing that the environmental and visual sensitivity are respected. It includes accommodating changing circumstances and the problem-solving required for long-term resilience.

On top of that, a strategic landscape strategy guides high-level design, land use and development decisions, and it also contributes to pre-application discussions, community engagements, and stakeholder involvement across diverse stakeholders and government agencies.

Scenarios Calling for a Strategy

Such situations where a strategy could be required include:

• Landscape-Led Masterplanning
• Large or Sensitive Development Sites
• Projects Requiring More Detailed Plans Across Different Parts of a Site (especially when dealing with different landscapes)
• Site Promotion or Local Plan Submissions
• Visual Documents for Garden Communities and Strategic Allocations

Applicable Clients

Strategy Methodology

Steps in the strategic landscape strategy process:

1. Foundation Review of Evidence

• Building on the Findings from the Strategic Landscape Assessment or Other Prior Surveys
• Confirming Planning Context, Project Goals and Stakeholder Priorities
• Picking Out Key Findings to Explore (including cultural forces and time depth)

2. Principles and Vision

• Developing High-Level Spatial Principles*

3. Strategic Framework Mapping

• Creating Diagrams and Illustrative Plans**

4. Design Integration (if necessary)

• Collaborating with Architects, Masterplanners and/or Urban Designers to Embed Landscape Responses into Development Site Layouts or Masterplans
• Identifying Phasing or Delivery Implications for Landscape Infrastructure

*Examples include enhancing biodiversity and amenity, integrating green infrastructure, managing views and interfaces, reinforcing local identity, and respecting and responding to landscape character.

**Features such as edge treatments and transitions, green and blue infrastructure corridors, land use zones, movement hierarchy (cycle, pedestrian or vehicular), open space and ecological networks, and view corridors and visual buffers.

Outcomes

With a strategy finalised, important information about the location and the development will be accessible. For instance, it includes a landscape-led development framework with consideration of a high-level and spatially grounded plan that helps with directing development zones, green infrastructure and landscape edges, demonstrating how the project will support environmental resilience and local distinctiveness. It also opens up the foundations for implementations, with a strategy benefiting efforts to guide phasing and infrastructure investment, inform design and access statements and reserved matters, and shape design codes.

The strategy document aligns with all relevant sections of landscape guidance, planning policies and best practice documents, showing how the proposal works towards biodiversity net gain, climate adaptation, local character and sustainable land use. Within the strategy, the results can offer core design responses based on the context of the landscape and practical parameters to guide architectural layout and masterplanning. It has enough evidence to prove that it has informed the development from the outset, supported local plan promotion, outline applications and supporting planning documents (SPDs), and generates confidence in local communities, planning officers and stakeholders.

Speak to Our Team About Strategic Landscape Planning

It could be that you’re promoting a site, preparing a planning application or responding to opportunities in planning policies. Whatever your situation is, our team can support you with tailored strategic landscape planning services.

In addition to ecology surveys, arboriculture surveys, archaeology surveys, contaminated land surveys, and so much more, Arbtech offers landscape surveys, including a strategic landscape assessment and strategic landscape strategy to clients who need them. We are able to commission them individually or together as part of a combined approach, or if you aren’t sure what you need for your planning project, speak to us and we will guide you based on your circumstances and requirements.

Our team conducts services that help with understanding the landscape context and sensitivities to shape a development proposal. Every one of our landscape consultants is effective in working closely with design teams, developers, local authorities and planning consultants to help out with decision-making, risk reduction and optimising the long-term value of a site and the optimum effectiveness of a planning project.

The administration team at Arbtech can help, whether you know what you need or require help with choosing the right route to go down. All you need to do is contact us via our website by filling out a contact form, calling us over the phone or sending us a message via email, and we will speak to you immediately about your planning needs. We will then give you a free quote for exactly what you need, and if you are happy to continue, confirm this with us, and we can choose a date for getting started.