January 2007 Guildford Landscape Character Assessment & Guidance Final Report Volume 1: Rural Assessment Prepared by Guildford Borough Council and Land Use Consultants GUILDFORD LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT RURAL ASSESSMENT FINAL REPORT Prepared by Guildford Borough Council and Land Use Consultants January 2007 43 Chalton Street London NW1 1JD Tel: 020 7383 5784 Fax: 020 7383 4798 [email protected] CONTENTS 1. Introduction and Classification Hierarchy........................................ 1 2. Method Statement.............................................................................. 5 3. Physical and Human Influences ....................................................... 11 4. Landscape Classification................................................................... 19 LANDSCAPE TYPE A: River Floodplain ............................................ 21 A1: Lower Wey River Floodplain......................................................... 23 A2: Upper Wey River Floodplain......................................................... 29 LANDSCAPE TYPE B: CHALK RIDGE.............................................. 35 B1: Hog’s Back Chalk Ridge.................................................................. 37 B2: Albury and Hackhurst Chalk Ridge............................................... 43 LANDSCAPE TYPE C: Wooded Chalk Down .................................... 49 C1: Merrow and Clandon Wooded Chalk Downs.............................. 51 C2: Effingham Forest............................................................................. 57 LANDSCAPE TYPE D: Open Chalk Farmland................................... 61 D1: Clandon Open Chalk Farmland .................................................... 63 LANDSCAPE TYPE E: Wooded Rolling Claylands ........................... 69 E1: Wanborough Wooded Rolling Clayland....................................... 71 E2: Ockham and Clandon Wooded Rolling Claylands........................ 77 LANDSCAPE TYPE F: Unsettled Sandy Heath.................................. 87 F1: Pirbright Common Unsettled Sandy Heath................................. 89 LANDSCAPE TYPE G: Wooded and Settled Sand Heath ................ 95 G1: Worplesdon Wooded and Settled Sand Heath........................... 97 G2: Wisley Wooded and Settled Heath............................................ 105 LANDSCAPE TYPE H: Gravel Terrace............................................. 111 H1: Send Gravel Terrace ..................................................................... 113 Guildford Landscape Character Assessment i Land Use Consultants Rural Assessment January 2007 Final Report H4: Shalford Gravel Terrace ............................................................... 119 LANDSCAPE TYPE I: Greensand Valley........................................... 125 I1: Tillingbourne Greensand Valley ................................................... 127 LANDSCAPE TYPE K: Wooded Greensand Hills ............................ 133 K1: Puttenham Wooded Greensand Hills......................................... 134 K2: Winterfold Wooded Greensand Hills......................................... 139 K3: St Martha’s Wooded Greensand Hills ........................................ 145 LANDSCAPE TYPE L: Open Greensand Hills.................................. 151 L1: Shackleford Open Greensand Hills............................................... 153 L2: Peaslake Open Greensand Hills................................................... 159 Guildford Landscape Character Assessment ii Land Use Consultants Rural Assessment January 2007 Final Report TABLES Table 1: Relationship to AONB and Surrey County Landscape Character Assessment Table 2: Relationship with Rural-Urban Fringe and Townscape Character Assessments Table 3: Rural Landscape Classification FIGURES Figure A: Location and Context Figure B: Rural, Rural-Urban Fringe and Townscape Study Areas Figure C: Project Design Figure 1.1: Countryside Character Areas Figure 1.2: Landscape Typology for England Figure 3.1: Solid Geology Figure 3.2: Drift Geology Figure 3.3: Hydrology Figure 3.4: Natural Areas Figure 3.5: Nature Conservation Designations Figure 3.6: Historic Environment Figure 3.7: Historic Landscape Characterisation Figure 4.1: Landscape Character Assessment Figure A1.1: Landscape condition Figure A1.2: Strength of character Figure A1.3: Strategy APPENDICES Appendix 1: Summary of condition, strength of character and strategy Appendix 2: References Appendix 3: Field survey sheet Appendix 4: Glossary Guildford Landscape Character Assessment iii Land Use Consultants Rural Assessment January 2007 Final Report ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Land Use Consultants (LUC) prepared an original technical report, as part of an integrated assessment of the character of the rural landscape, the rural-urban fringe and the townscape of Guildford on behalf of Guildford Borough Council. The Land Use Consultants team consisted of Kate Ahern, Jane Wilson, Rebecca Knight and Frances Curtis. The study has been steered by officers from Guildford Borough Council (GBC); Kay Munt, John Davey, Lesley Waddell and Jo Bell and from Surrey County Council; Mike Dawson, and Dave Symonds. The GIS mapping was produced by Sue Rudd of Guildford Borough Council, and the illustrative maps for this report were developed from the GIS information by Paul Bodill of Guildford Borough Council. GBC has provided additional information within the text and added comments from stakeholder consultation. The final report therefore represents the combined work of LUC and GBC. Guildford Landscape Character Assessment 1 Land Use Consultants Rural Assessment January 2007 Final Report 1. INTRODUCTION AND CLASSIFICATION HIERARCHY THE GUILDFORD BOROUGH LANDSCAPE 1.1. Guildford Borough presents a varied and dynamic landscape as shown by the presence of four different countryside character areas at the national level (see Figure 1.1). Its landscapes vary from the lowland heaths within the ‘Thames Basin Heaths’ to the chalk downland on the Hog’s Back ridge of the North Downs. These landscapes form an important setting to the historic settlement of Guildford in the centre of the borough and to the urban area of Ash and Tongham to the west. 1.2. Figure A shows the context for the borough, including land designated as the Green Belt and the boundary of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) which covers much of the south of the borough. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.3. There are a number of different landscape assessments covering Guildford Borough. However, these were produced at different times and to different methodologies. This assessment has been produced using the current guidance on landscape character assessment and with the benefit of information not previously available such as the Historic Landscape Character Assessment of Surrey. 1.4. The study takes a three-tiered approach with the borough-wide study forming the context and framework for the more detailed rural-urban fringe and townscape assessments (see Figure B). Together, these linked assessments provide a comprehensive, integrated characterisation of the borough to fulfil the objectives of the study, which are: • to provide a tool for decision making in the development control process; • to inform planning policy formation; • to guide landscape management decisions; • to form an information source for Guildford’s two Area Action Plans. Landscape Character Assessment is a tool for identifying the features which give a locality it's sense of place, to help understand what the landscape is like today, how it came to be like that, and how it may change in the future as an aid to decision- making. It is endorsed within national Planning Policy under PPS1: Delivering Sustainable Development1, PPS7: Sustainable Development in Rural Areas2, the Companion 1 17. Protection and Enhancement of the Environment; Planning Policy Statement 1: National Planning Policies, ODPM, 2004 2 Key Principles iv, 12. Design and Character of Rural Settlements, 15. Countryside Protection and Development in the Countryside, 26. The Countryside around Urban Areas and 32. Equine related activities: PPS7: Sustainable Development in Rural Areas, ODPM, 2004 Guildford Landscape Character Assessment 1 Land Use Consultants Rural Assessment January 2007 Final Report Guide to PPS22: on Renewable Energy3, the Manual for Streets4, and the draft South East Plan5. 1.5. Government guidance requires that Plans, including Local Development Frameworks should be “objective led” and to this end the LCA provides within its guidelines a clear statement of what needs to be done to deliver outcomes from development and management, regarding the conservation, enhancement or restoration of the landscape. Therefore character has become a significant material consideration in planning policy formation. 1.6. It is proposed that in Guildford Borough, this work will be an important part of the evidence base supporting the policies within the Guildford Local Development Framework (GDF) and will therefore be an initial information source for individual planning applications and a material consideration when considering development proposals. The LCA will need to be used in conjunction with the saved policies of the Local Plan, the emerging GDF, and other adopted planning policy and guidance. First and foremost, the LCA will be an important tool to use when developing and assessing planning proposals. LCA delivers a suite of tools that can be used, and take forward a character-led approach to determining a spatial framework for application