13th September 2006
The National Centre for Early Music, York, YO1 9TL

Download workshop proceedings (796kB)

Strategic Environmental Assessment ensures that sustainable development has priority when developing policies and programmes. Landscape must be considered when assessing and monitoring the impact of new policies and programmes. In this fast developing field there is a need to share experience.

This workshop explored the principles of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Sustainability Appraisal (SA). It covered how landscape can be considered as part of the assessment process and also how landscape change can be monitored and reported.

Landscape Character Assessment provides information to support SEA and SA, including baseline information about the distinctive characteristics of landscapes and an understanding of how landscapes have developed. Landscape Character Assessment also provides a spatial framework for monitoring landscape change.

The workshop included presentations by practitioners and plenary discussion. The afternoon involved working sessions to explore good practice and develop recommendations for landscape indicators.

Speakers:
John Handley, The Centre for Urban and Rural Ecology, The University of Manchester:
Chair and introduction

Kathleen Covill, The Countryside Agency LAR:
'Landscape in SA/SEA; issues and opportunities'

Riki Therivel, Levett-Therivel:
'SEA and Landscape'

Jo Bagnall, High Peak Borough Council:
'SA - reflections from a rural borough'

Jonathan Porter, Countryscape
'Monitoring the landscape – lessons from Countryside Quality Counts project'