The East Midlands Landscape Partnership organised and hosted a one day event to promote their draft Regional Landscape Character Assessment, to raise awareness of some of the key landscape issues in the Region and to provide a forum for discussion to help in ELC implementation.

The event was held at the British Geological Survey offices at Keyworth and was well attended by delegates from a wide range of organisations across a range of sectors. The speakers provided useful and interesting insights into a diverse range of topics including the perspective from Natural England, English Heritage and The Forestry Commission. LDA Design explained the methodology behind the East Midlands Regional Landscape Character Assessment and explained its key findings. Professor Carys Swanwick from the University of Sheffield talked about using landscape as a spatial framework. Carys highlighted the potential of landscape character assessment to integrate a wide range of objectives and to plan and manage land according to character boundaries which follow natural lines through the landscape, and not those derived to meet administrative boundaries such as Local Authority areas which do not take account of strategic environmental considerations.

Lively group discussion on how best to integrate the emerging East Midlands Regional Landscape Character Assessment into regional spatial planning policy and processes and how delegates saw their organisations using this new evidence raised some interesting points. It was agreed that landscape character assessment should be seen as a positive tool for helping to shape future decision making and for positively informing development design and not as a sometimes perceived restriction to change. It was also considered that more training and education was needed at all levels to raise awareness of the benefits and uses of landscape character assessment.

The East Midlands Landscape Partnership was pleased to take this opportunity to launch its new logo, along with its strap line 'making landscape matter' to enforce the ELC message that all landscape is important, from those nationally designated for scenic beauty to those experienced, used and enjoyed at a local level.

Click here to view the presentations from the day

Click here to view the East Midlands Regional Landscape Character Assessment. Consultation finished on 11th December.