LUC is excited to be working once again with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) to complete the National Seascape Character Assessment for England.

We have been working with the MMO since 2012 to undertake Seascape Assessments region by region, to underpin statutory marine planning. Our first Seascape Assessment for the South was published in 2014 and was Highly Commended by the Landscape Institute. Since then, we have produced desk-based assessments for the South East, North East, North West and South West marine plan areas.

This work will ‘stitch together’ the regional assessments to produce a national map of ‘Marine Character Areas’ (MCAs) for England’s Inshore and Offshore marine plan areas, equivalent to Natural England’s ‘National Character Areas’ for landscape. A number of workshops will be held across the country to verify the findings of our desk-based assessments to produce supporting evidence on seascape for the forthcoming Marine Plans.

Read our article about Understanding and assessing seascape character assessment.