Area 20 South Gloucestershire Landscape Character Assessment Draft Proposed for Adoption 12 November 2014 Pilning Levels Pilning Area 20 Pilning Levels Contents Sketch map 278 Key characteristics 279 Location 280 Physical influences 280 Land cover 281 Settlement and infrastructure 282 Landscape character 284 The changing landscape 287 Landscape strategy 291 Photographs Landscape character area boundary www.southglos.gov.uk 277 Area 20 South Gloucestershire Landscape Character Assessment Draft Proposed for Adoption 12 November 2014 Pilning Levels Pilning Figure 61 Pilning Levels Sketch Map ç1 æ2 æ3 ã4 •5 ã8 â7 ç6 •9 á15 ç16 •10 •11 á12 å13 è14 á17 Key å17 Photograph viewpoints Scale: not to scale 278 www.southglos.gov.uk Area 20 South Gloucestershire Landscape Character Assessment Draft Proposed for Adoption 12 November 2014 Pilning Levels Pilning Area 20 Pilning Levels The Pilning Levels is an area of contrasts, with a largely flat, semi-enclosed to open agricultural landscape, divided by rhines and linear transport routes across the N central and northern area, and extensive areas of industry and warehousing in the south. Key Characteristics ¡ The rural part of the character area ¡ Scattered wooded areas contribute to comprises a flat, simple landscape of greater enclosure of landscape in some medium to small, regular and irregular areas as well as providing habitat for shaped fields, with a mix of pasture (some notable species including European with ridge and furrow) and arable fields. Protected Species. Criss-crossed by rhines, clipped and some overgrown hedges, with occasional strong ¡ Semi-enclosed to open landscape, with tree belts, withy beds, orchards, scattered occasional long distance views from mature trees and pollards. slightly elevated vantages, west towards South Wales & Forest of Dean and east ¡ Strong visual influence of the estuary, towards the Severn Ridge. and areas of the levels that provide overwintering habitat for birds associated ¡ Numerous major roads, including the M4, with the international and national M48, M49 and A403 and a railway line designations on the Severn Estuary. bisect the Levels landscape. Infrastructure, embankments and bridges form ¡ Neutral, calcareous and marshy grassland prominent features above natural ground across the levels provide visual texture level, however the associated cuttings and support a diverse range of flora, while and planting has over time achieved arable areas provide nesting and winter some absorption of these into the wider stubble provides foraging opportunities for landscape framework. farmland birds including Amber and Red listed species. ¡ Limited clustered settlements and scattered farms, mainly on higher ground, ¡ Outliers at Ingst and Aust form prominent with much of the area of the rural Levels low hills. landscape being relatively unpopulated. www.southglos.gov.uk 279 Area 20 South Gloucestershire Landscape Character Assessment Draft Proposed for Adoption 12 November 2014 Pilning Levels Pilning Key Characteristics ¡ An expanding and evolving complex of ¡ The two Severn Bridges are prominent industrial, power generation, chemical to the west beyond the area. Several works and distribution warehouses are powerlines and supporting towers crossing prominent to the south and continuing into the area are also prominent. the adjacen Bristol City Council area. with Aust Cliff a prominent feature on the western Location boundary, facing the Severn Estuary. Aust Cliff is The Pilning Levels landscape character area is designated an SSSI and RIGS, for its outcropping located on the south western edge of the South geological formation and fossil bed. Gloucestershire area, to the north west of Bristol. A major characteristic of this area is the sea Its southern limits follow the South wall to the west and pattern of man-made Gloucestershire Authority boundary, although the drainage ditches, locally called rhines. Some character of this area does continue southwards rhines date back to medieval times, with other into the Bristol Council area towards Avonmouth. phases of construction during the Napoleonic era and First World War. These phases in land The eastern and north eastern boundaries follow drainage reclaimed areas of marshland, to an often subtle transition in landform, land cover improve agricultural production. The pattern and drainage pattern, between the flat Levels’ of rhines gives some indication of their date landscape and the rising ground of the Severn of construction, the more regular patterns Ridges, largely following the 10m contour, representing the most recent areas of drainage. although in some places the topographic change The rhine system is controlled by sluices in the is imperceptible. sea wall, which discharge into tidal pills and the Estuary beyond. To the west, the boundary follows the sea wall and rock outcrop at Aust. Here there is a clear In places, ‘gryps’ (comprising a linear shallow transition between the fields of the Levels and the bank landform similar to ridge and furrow), warth salt marsh and intertidal areas of mudflats, provide drainage to the system of rhines. where the open expanses of the Estuary are dominant. (See Figure 64). Many of the rhines are named on the OS 1:25,000 Explorer series maps, indicating the significance of the drainage features. However, many more Physical Influences have local names, contributing to the identity and The geology of this area is predominantly Alluvial, colour of the area. with Alluvial Gley soils typical of the lowland Levels’ landscape. This creates a low lying flat landscape, The lowland Levels’ landscape is contained to the the topography generally below 10 metres a.o.d. east by the rising land of the Severn Ridge and Occasional outcrops of harder rocks, such as to the west is defined by the sea wall, with the sandstone or Carboniferous limestone, create Severn shoreline and Estuary beyond. outliers such as at Ingst and Aust, which rise above the flat Levels, forming small isolated hills, The sea wall comprises a grass covered earth between approximately 25 metres and 40 metres embankment up to 2m high above the adjacent a.o.d. Both outliers are dissected by the M48, natural ground level and connects with the Binn 280 www.southglos.gov.uk Area 20 South Gloucestershire Landscape Character Assessment Draft Proposed for Adoption 12 November 2014 Pilning Levels Pilning Wall at New Passage. Flood defences have been finds going back to pre-historic times across the a feature along the edge of the Estuary for some historic landscape of the Levels. considerable time, with map evidence indicating the sea wall has been in existence since at Small, square or rectangular woodland blocks, least the mid 18th century. The wall could be with some withy beds of hazel or willow coppice, much earlier, with one section within the Bristol are frequently scattered centrally, with occasional Authority area dating to the Saxon period. linear tree belts of alder and poplar (Photo 13 & 15). Linear tree and shrub planting also lines significant Within this very flat landscape, the railway lengths of the motorways, with blocks of tree embankment of the South Wales to London line planting cloaking junctions and the embankments and to a lesser degree, road and overbridge around the overbridges. At the Western embankments, form significant raised physical Approaches development a strong framework of features, which segment the Levels and are rhynes, ponds and tree and shrub planting have superimposed over the older drainage and replaced to former agricultural landscape. agricultural patterns. Small areas of common land often fringe the Artificially raised ground at Berwick Farm landfill country lanes and farmsteads, in the form of site lies adjacent to the southern boundary, with verges. earth bunds reaching 20 metres above existing ground level. Small orchards are scattered throughout the rural area, associated with farms. Land Cover The regular, linear vegetation structure is largely Much of the Pilning Levels landscape character defined by the underlying pattern of rhines, area is covered by a mix of small to medium, which flows towards the Severn Estuary (Photo regular and irregular shaped fields of pasture and 13 & 9). Local small scale features include rhine limited arable use (Photo 1 & 4). Fields are more aqueducts, where one watercourse is carried variable and irregular in shape between Aust and over another by bridge (Photo 10). Pilning. The fields are defined by clipped and overgrown hedges, with occasional mature trees Adjacent to New Passage and the sea wall lies or pollarded trees of oak, willow and ash (Photo a former rifle range, comprising open grassland, 5). Occasionally, fences replace the hedgerow firing range and extensive danger area, which structure . extends over part of the sea wall/public footpath and over Northwick Warth, within the adjacent Dead elm trees are evident within some character area. The boundary of the site is largely hedgerows, often within drier, more elevated indistinct and variously formed by hedgerows of areas of the Levels. the adjacent agricultural land use and a section of the sea wall. Ridge and furrow is a common subtle feature, evident within many unimproved fields within the Berwick Farm landfill site lies to the south of the Levels. Gryps, created for field drainage, are also former Severnside Chemical Works site, adjacent evident and form low banks which spread out to the southern boundary. Following completion from the centre of fields. They appear