An intellectually challenging project involving fieldwork around some of England’s finest wild landscapes including Mallerstang on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, the distinctive Howgills and the remote limestone fells at Orton.
LUC was commissioned by Natural England to evaluate the “land between the parks” - areas of high quality landscape that have historically been recognised as outstanding but have been left out of the national park designation process.
Land to be designated must meet the statutory criteria for national parks as set out in legislation, namely natural beauty and opportunities for open air recreation. The concept of ‘natural beauty’ has recently been challenged and this study therefore required a rigorous objective approach.
The study, in conjunction with Prof. Carys Swanwick, University of Sheffield, developed detailed definitions of the criteria for natural beauty and opportunities for open air recreation, and identified a series of factors and sub factors under each criteria. An indicator was identified for each sub factor. Evidence was then collected to show if the indicator was met wholly, in part or not at all. The evidence used primary sources such as geology and topography mapping as well as secondary published reports and data on landscape character and quality.
The information was collated and stored as an ArcReader published map project and as a database. This allowed mapping of spatial data and interrogation of the data sets. The method gave a very clear indication of how and why the areas did, or did not, meet the criteria for designation as part of a National Park.
The approach developed in this study informed the South Downs National Park Inquiry.
