Introduction
Objectives of the Test Valley Community Landscape Project
The aim of the project has been to provide a clear framework to guide the future development and management of the borough landscape in order to ensure that the distinctive character of the borough is retained and change is accommodated in a positive way to the benefit of the people who live and work in the borough, the ecological and historical value of the borough and the overall condition of the landscape.
The prime objectives of the study have been as follows:
- To involve the general public, as well as stakeholders, in the Landscape Character Assessment process in a practical and valuable way;
- To develop greater public awareness of issues affecting the landscape and identify the real values the public attach to the landscape;
- To produce a Landscape Character Assessment that can be readily understood by both the public and professionals and within which the characteristics of the landscape are clearly identified;
- To use this process of better understanding and communication to enable the public and stakeholders to effectively inform the identification of influences on the landscape, management strategies and planning policy;
- To ensure a fully integrated approach to characterisation informed by using landscape, ecological, historical and cultural assessments and weaving them together to define landscape types and landscape character areas;
- To recognise fully the role of settlement character in determining the landscape form and the modern intimate relationship between the built form and its inhabitants and the surrounding rural landscape;
- To assist in the conservation, enhancement and restoration of a viable and healthy landscape within the Test Valley borough through landscape management guidelines;
- To assist in the conservation, enhancement and restoration of the landscape through well founded planning policies;
- To inform the emerging Borough Local Plan;
- To use the process to identify areas that require further work.