Landscape Character Assessment Current
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CURRENT LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT CONTENTS CONTENTS 02 PREFACE 04 1.0 INTRODUCTION 06 1.1 Appointment and Brief 06 1.2 Northamptonshire Environmental Characterisation Process 06 1.3 Landscape Characterisation in Practice 06 1.4 Northamptonshire Current Landsacape Character Assessment 07 1.5 Approach and Methodology 07 1.6 The Scope and Context of the Study 08 1.7 Parallel Projects and Surveys 08 1.8 Structure of the Report 09 2.0 EVOLUTION OF THE LANDSCAPE 10 2.1 Introduction 10 Physical Influences 2.2 Geology and Soils 10 2.3 Landform 14 2.4 Northamptonshire Physiographic Model 14 2.5 Hydrology 15 2.6 Land Use and Land Cover 16 2.7 Woodland and Trees 18 2.8 Biodiversity 19 2.85 Summary 22 2.9 Buildings and Settlement 23 2.10 Boundaries 25 2.11 Communications and Infrastructure 26 2.12 Historic Landscape Character 28 3.0 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE’S CURRENT LANDSCAPE CHARACTER 29 Cowpasture Spinney, Rolling Ironstone Valley Slopes 3.1 Introduction 29 3.2 Landscape Character Types and Landscape Character Areas 30 3.3 Landscape Character Type and Area Boundary Determination 30 CURRENT LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT 2 CONTENTS 4.0 GLOSSARY 187 4.1 Key Landscape Character Assessment Terms 187 4.2 Other Technical Terms 187 4.3 Abbreviations 189 5.0 REFERENCES 190 6.0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 191 APPENDICES View over arable land, Limestone Plateau Appendix 1 Data Sets Used in the Northamptonshire Current Landscape Character Assessment Appendix 2 Example of Digital Field Survey Forms Appendix 3 Field Work Prompts Sheets and Mapping Prompts Sheet Appendix 4 Project Flow Diagram Appendix 5 Desk Based Refinement of National Typology Flow Diagram Appendix 6 Countryside Character Areas and National Landscape Type Descriptions Appendix 7 Natural Areas Descriptions FIGURES Figure 1 Study Area Figure 2 Countryside Character Areas Figure 3 National Landscape Typology Figure 4 Landscape Character Zones (1992) Figure 5 Physiography Figure 6 Habitats and Woodlands Figure 7 Northamptonshire Current Landscape Character Assessment: Landscape Character Types (1:300,000 scale A3 plan) Figure 8 Northamptonshire Current Landscape Character Assessment: Landscape Character Types and Landscape Character Areas (1:100,000 scale A0 plan) This document has been prepared and checked in accordance with BS EN ISO 9001 : 2000 All plans based on Ordnance Survey maps with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office © copyright licence No. AR189189. CURRENT LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT CONTENTS 3 PREFACE INTRODUCTION The project area comprises the administrative County of Northamptonshire, excluding the Soke of Peterborough and the present unitary authority area of Peterborough. Extending across 2360 km², it includes seven District and Borough Council administrative authorities. The greater part of the county comprises agricultural land with urban areas amounting to approximately 4% of the land cover. Northamptonshire contains a number of distinctive and contrasting landscapes. Undulating, elevated land with ironstone villages in the west and north of the county contrast with the lower, broad river valleys that extend across the central and eastern part of the county, and also along its northern margin. Rockingham Forest, which contains extensive areas of historic woodland, also forms a distinctive landscape in the northeast of the county. The principal watershed in the Midlands region follows the western side of the county with a series of rivers flowing westwards and southwards, notably the catchments of the Avon, Lean and Cherwell. However, the greater part of the county is drained by the two main river systems of the Nene and Welland, which flow northeastwards, and eventually beyond the county into The Wash. Wadenhoe, Nene meandering This assessment provides a detailed review of Northamptonshire’s current landscape character at 2003. The study has been undertaken in accordance with the most recent guidance and methodology set out by the Countryside Agency. The guidance recognises that all landscapes matter, not just those that are particularly well known or evoke strong images, and that each landscape character type and landscape character area has a recognisable and consistent pattern of elements that makes it different from another. Character makes each part of the landscape distinct, with a particular sense of place, regardless of perceptions of quality or value. The assessment provides a new landscape character map of the county that identifies, classifies and describes the pattern and contrasts in landscape character across the county. Shorts Wood in a well treed and hedged arable landscape CURRENT LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT PREFACE 4 PREFACE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE - A RURAL COUNTY Beyond the main urban centres of Northampton, Corby, Wellingborough, Kettering and Daventry a rural landscape of scenic beauty and local distinctiveness extends across the county. The towns and cities, together with major infrastructure developments including the M1 and other principal roads, have had a major influence on local landscape character. However, the wider landscape has long been perceived as a tranquil, rural area, famed for its productive farmland and attractive villages. Despite this general perception, however, few of the features associated with the Northamptonshire landscape evoke strong images. This is perhaps due to the subtle transitions between contrasting landscapes, and there being few landscape Tunnel Hill, Undulating Claylands elements of significant drama or prominence. The built environment is also evocative, ranging from the charm of the many picturesque villages and historic small towns THE INFLUENCE OF GEOLOGY to the individual houses, churches with prominent spires, mansions, and the numerous historic parkland and estates for which the county is also renowned. The principal geological structure of the county comprises an extensive belt of Lias Group rocks and Together, the elements and features that are present in Oolitic Limestone, which forms part of the Jurassic Northamptonshire combine in various ways to create a ridge that stretches northeastwards across England great variety of landscapes, each displaying distinctive from Lyme Bay in Dorset to the North Sea, in North patterns of landform, vegetation, and landscape elements. Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The Cotswolds, perhaps the The purpose of the Northamptonshire Current Landscape most well know section of this great Jurassic limestone Character Assessment is to observe, analyse and describe belt, is located just a few miles to the west of the these variations and distinctive patterns. county boundary. Indeed, many features associated with the Cotswolds, for example high, expansive wolds cloaked in large arable fields, divided by dry stone walls, also occur within parts of Northamptonshire. However, contrasting geological influences are also evident and add to the county’s diverse character and appeal. For example, areas of iron rich Lias Group rocks, and Oxford Clay are widespread. Superficial deposits are also present, comprising extensive areas of glacial boulder clay, and gravels and alluvium in the river valleys. Such deposits mask the characteristics of the underlying solid geology, and create gently undulating landscapes that differ from the more elevated areas where superficial deposits are absent. Contrasting geological formations underpin the landscape structure of the county and dictate the principal landform elements. Geology and landform have had a strong influence both on the pattern of man’s progressive occupation of the land, and vegetation cover. Although Northamptonshire’s geology is hidden beneath a landscape of fields, valleys and gentle hills, its mellow stone buildings are indicative of the diversity and wealth of its solid rock formations, with the pattern of local building intrinsically linked with the underlying geology. The Nene Valley, Great Doddington CURRENT LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT PREFACE 5 1.0 INTRODUCTION v 1.1 APPOINTMENT AND BRIEF In April 2003, the Built and Natural Environment Service of Northamptonshire County Council appointed LDA Design (formerly Landscape Design Associates) to carry out a Current Landscape Character Assessment of Northamptonshire. 1.2 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISATION PROCESS The Current Landscape Character Assessment forms part of a wider project that delivers an integrated, robust and transparent landscape characterisation of the county: the Northamptonshire Environmental Characterisation Process (ECP). This provides a comprehensive characterisation of the county by integrating the three primary environmental aspects comprising the historic, the biodiversity and the current landscape character, and the delivery of the county’s Environmental Character Assessment (ECA). Ferrets Wood, Wooded Clay Plateau The principal objective of the overall project is to: • Develop key environmental baseline datasets, and inform, develop and enhance the sustainable planning and management of the landscape. Building on this principal objective, secondary objectives are to: • replace Special Landscape Area local designations with a more objective character based assessment; • Develop Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) and joint environmental strategies, in conjunction with partners and stakeholders; • inform the consideration of development proposals; • guide the best use and targeting of resources in respect of management, conservation and enhancement of the landscape; • enable the undertaking of a five year development