Landscape Sensitivity

When planning land management and land use changes it is essential to understand the effects that these may have on the landscape. However, each type of change will have different impacts, and so a knowledge of the inherent sensitivity of the landscape is vital for understanding the effects of a particular type of change.

A new study is underway, developed in partnership with colleagues at West Berkshire Council, to understand the sensitivity of the Hampshire landscape. Using Landscape Character Assessment as a starting point, the study identifies the physical, experiential, ecological and historic components of the landscape and assesses them for their significance, robustness and condition. It combines these with the visibility of the landscape to arrive at a measure of overall landscape sensitivity. This will result in a map of comparative sensitivity for the County, underpinned by data and text, which can be accessed in a web format.

The full study and a revised paper on the methodology will be available in due course.