LUC, in partnership with Natural England, has developed an ambitious programme of work to engage decision-makers, the public and local communities in making decisions about the future planning of the South West landscape. The impetus for this programme of work comes from the European Landscape Convention, which as well as promoting the protection, management and planning of all European landscapes, requires wider public engagement and stakeholder involvement.
The landscapes of the South West are exceptionally diverse, have strong identity and sense of place, and stimulate keen emotions from local people and visitors alike. They will change and continue to evolve as they have done for all time. Some of the drivers for change are changing too, or are becoming more intense in terms of speed and impact of change. The framework for all of our lives — where we live, work and play — our landscape provides us with numerous important benefits, from functional services such as food production, to those more spiritual services around recreation, rejuvenation and even our identity. The focus of the programme is to work towards maintaining and creating a mosaic of diverse and distinctive landscapes in good condition, and that are widely valued for the range of services and benefits they provide for human well-being and ultimately for human survival in the face of climate change.
The project comprised three parts — firstly a Technical Report which scoped available research on past, present and future forces for change of relevance to the South West. This report also looked at the different methods organisations and projects have used to engage people into thinking about landscape change — from computer-generated images, comparing photographs to artists’ impressions. Secondly, proposals were developed for a five-year programme of work that could be taken forward by the South West Regional Landscape Partnership — including projects looking at mapping and monitoring landscape change and developing engagement tools to reach a wide audience. The third part of the project used the skills of our landscape architects to create illustrated ‘storylines’ of past, current and future landscape change for a selection of South West landscapes - one tool for illustrating and discussing landscape change with a range of audiences
“Natural England was pleased to support and participate in this project. It was an exciting development from discussions at the inaugural meeting of the South West Regional Landscape Partnership. The Partnership worked well with and were supported and stimulated by the LUC project staff as the project evolved. LUC’s collation of evidence about landscape change in the South West has provided us with a critical evidence base for future work. Their creative ideas for inspiring and improving community and stakeholder engagement will equip us to work collaboratively towards a sustainable vision and future for all of the South West’s landscapes. The project has also resulted in a demanding but exciting set of viable proposals which the Partnership is determined to take forward to help fulfil that vision.” (Sarah Manning, National Environmental Advice & Analysis Team)
