Volume 2 of the Test Valley Community Landscape Project sets out the borough-wide landscape guidelines for the Test Valley Borough and the overall strategy and guidelines for each landscape character area. This report is a companion volume to Volume 1. Test Valley Community Landscape Project: Landscape Character Assessment, but unlike Volume 1, is not to be adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance.

The development of the landscape strategies and guidelines for the borough has been based on the identification of key characteristics and key natural and cultural issues under the Landscape Character Assessment, and on the results of the community workshop and focus groups and the stakeholder consultation process in the autumn of 2003. We also thank the Project Steering Group and other officers at Test Valley Borough Council for reviewing and developing the strategies and guidelines for inclusion in this volume.

The Strategy for each landscape character area is a summary of the over-arching approach to be adopted for each landscape character area based on the condition of the landscape, historic and ecological elements and the role of the area within the Borough and regional landscape, and the value attached by the local community to those characteristics.

The Character Area Guidelines are divided into two sections covering Land Management and Land Use and Development. These seek to achieve the strategy set out for each landscape character area but also reflect the fact that certain elements of the landscape may require a different approach. For example, whilst the overall strategy may be to conserve the pattern and form of existing landscape characteristics, there may be elements (such as a former minerals sites) that need restoring, or elements that introduce a new asset to the landscape (such as new roadside planting). Some guidelines were found to be common across the Borough and were not specific to a particular area. These have been included in the Borough-wide Guidelines. The Borough-wide and Character Area guidelines should therefore be read together and should be used to provide direction to those proposing to implement change in the Test Valley Borough landscape.