The most appropriate level at which to describe the overall character of the landscape is generally the Regional Character Area, but this is too broad to be helpful in informing many land-based decisions. A finer grain of classification is needed, and this has led to the recognition of the Landscape Character Type in recent landscape studies. This is a generic term for landscapes that show a particular combination of landscape elements (landform and land-cover) and land uses that create a particular character. An example of these could be riparian alluvial lowland farmlands, representing all examples of farmed landscapes on the alluvial soils associated with floodplains of lowland rivers. Such a Landscape Character Type could be found within many different Regional Character Areas. In Staffordshire these Landscape Character Types have been mapped on the basis of smaller Land Description Units derived from field survey and consultation with environmental specialists. These Land Description Units are the basic units on which assessment, evaluation and decision-making are based.

 

Staffordshire County Council, in partnership with the Countryside Agency, has built upon this character based approach to landscape assessment, as advocated in current Planning Policy Guidance note 7, to map the quality or effective strength of character of the landscapes of the Structure Plan Area. In addition, a method for assessing and mapping general sensitivity to change of landscape units has been developed. This relationship between sensitivity and quality provides a means of determining the most appropriate measures for the conservation, enhancement or regeneration of landscapes. This has resulted in the identification of five types of landscape policy zones, covering the whole of the plan area, which now replace the previous non-statutory Special Landscape Area designation. The statutory designations of the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and that part of the County falling within the Peak National Park, (which is outside this Plan's area), is unaffected by this process. This approach to landscape policy has now been adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance to support Policies NC1 and NC2 in the current Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Structure Plan (1996-2011).

 

The Supplementary Planning Guidance includes details of the visual and ecological character of the landscapes of the Structure Plan Area and details BAP targets for those areas. Achieving BAP targets for individual Landscape Character Types has therefore become an integral part of the assessment of development proposals within rural Staffordshire.

 

 

In England, the policy framework for planning control is provided by the development plan system. In Staffordshire this comprises the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Structure Plan 1996-2011, together with subject local plans for minerals and waste (prepared by the County and Stoke-on-Trent City Councils) and district-wide local plans prepared by the eight district local authorities within the County. The Structure Plan provides a broad planning framework in the form of a comprehensive, sustainable strategy relating to land-use, transportation and the environment. Included in this are a series of policies and proposals for safeguarding and enhancing the County's natural and cultural assets.

 

Among these policies there are 13 that have a direct or indirect bearing on nature conservation. The policy which is directly concerned with biodiversity is NC 5, which states:

 

A significant parallel policy (NC6) on important semi-natural habitats reads as follows:

 

These two general policies are supplemented by more specific policies relating to individual sites and specific habitats of nature conservation importance, and to the safeguard of legally protected species.

 

The Structure Plan Policies are in turn developed, as appropriate, in the various district-wide local plans, and in the subject based local plans, for example in relation to mineral working and restoration.