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The Cheshire Landscape Character Assessment

Anyone driving through Cheshire will notice that its landscape is constantly changing.  From the Cheshire Plain to the Sandstone Ridge the landscape of Cheshire has provided pleasure and inspiration to many people.

Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) explains the differences between landscapes, based on sense of place, local distinctiveness, characteristic wildlife, natural features and nature of change.  As such, LCA is a useful tool for communities, developers, farmers and land managers, landscape and planning professionals in identifying the characteristics that make a particular landscape unique, and using this understanding to plan and manage landscape change.

The draft Landscape Character Assessment for Cheshire has been completed and as part of the adoption process now needs to go through a process of public consultation; the first stage of the consultation process with the separate district councils within Cheshire has taken place; the assessment is now on the Cheshire website as part of a county wide public consultation.

The assessment offers the chance to promote positive landscape change by seeking new uses for disturbed or degraded land.  In the most extreme cases where landscapes have been lost or transformed this may require a conscious decision to create new landscapes with a new economic function and appropriate land management.

Your views are important as part of this process, so please have a look at the Landscape Character Assessment and send any comments by Monday 15 December 2008.

A detailed map of the Landscape Character Assessment, with all the relevant character codes is available by clicking the map below -

Landscape Character Assessment Introduction and Character Types

Introduction Methodology
Character Type	Character Codes
Landscape Character Type 1 - Sandy Woods	SW1, SW2, SW3
Landscape Character Type 2 - Sandstone Ridge	SR1, SR2, SR3, SR4
Landscape Character Type 3 - Sandstone Fringe	SF1, SF2
Landscape Character Type 4 - Drained Marsh	DM1, DM2
Landscape Character Type 5 - Rolling Farmland	RF1, RF2, RF3, RF4, RF5, RF6, RF7, RF8, RF9, RF10
Landscape Character Type 6 - West Lowland Plain	WLP1, WLP2, WLP3, WLP4, WLP5, WLP6
Landscape Character Type 7 - East Lowland Plain	ELP1, ELP2, ELP3, ELP4, ELP5, ELP6
Landscape Character Type 8 - Lowland Estate	LE1
Landscape Character Type 9 - Estate Woodland Mere	EWM1, EWM2, EWM3, EWM4, EWM5
Landscape Character Type 10 - Lower Fams and Woods	LFW1, LFW2, LFW3, LFW4, LFW5, LFW6, LFW7
Landscape Character Type 11 - Salt Flashes	SFL1, SFL2
Landscape Character Type 12 - Mosslands	M1, M2, M3, M4, M5
Landscape Character Type 13 - River Valleys	R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9
Landscape Character Type 14 - Shallow River Valley	SRB1
Landscape Character Type 15 - Mudflats Saltmarsh	MFSM1, MFSM2
Landscape Character Type 16 - Higher Fams Woods	HFW1, HFW2, HFW3, HFW4
Landscape Character Type 17 - Upland Estate	UE1
Landscape Character Type 18 - Upland Footslopes	UFS1, UFS2, UFS3, UFS4, UFS5, UFS6
Landscape Character Type 19 - Upland Fringe	UF1, UF2, UF3, UF4
Landscape Character Type 20 - Moorland Plateau	MP1, MP2