Assessment of Methodology
Written Consultations
The initial stakeholder consultations gave a poor return. Good up to date information at the outset is however invaluable, and use of existing studies, the web and contacts provided much of the information needed. It is evident that many of the statutory consultees do not have time to respond or contribute to a consultation requests at the early stages of the project except in broad terms.
The circulation of the Draft Summary for Consultation document to local residents, prior to the workshop, risked being off-putting as, to an untrained mind, the information may be inaccessible and apparently repetitive. However, it did enable participants to grasp some of the landscape character assessment process which was of benefit to their participation in the workshop.
The second stage of written consultation, using the Draft Summary for Consultation, produced a selective but more informative response and led to positive changes to the boundaries, greater clarity in terminology and revisions to key and local issues. The absence of a large scale map (1:50,000) on an OS base in the report was, however, a problem.