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Introduction
Now is a time of significant landscape and seascape change driven by climate change, the biodiversity crisis, new environmental and agricultural policy post Brexit, the drive for Net Zero and responding to the needs of a growing population. It is a critical time to think strategically about the future of our landscapes and seascapes, what we want them to provide and how and where these targets should be delivered. There is an urgent need to articulate a vision for the outcomes of change, showing how different demands and uses will work together in future multi-functional landscapes and seascapes. Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) and Seascape Character Assessment (SCA) can offer a means of guiding positive change, rather than being perceived as a means of preventing change.
This hub seeks to:
- Provide a collaborative platform to guide the forthcoming update to the 2014 An Approach to Landscape Character Assessment (LCA Approach document) and the 2012 An Approach to Seascape Character Assessment (SCA Approach document)
- Provide a location for your responses to online surveys and workshops.
- Provide a platform for research or topic papers on LCA and SCA. These papers provide an important context for the update to the LCA and SCA Approach documents, aiming to stimulate thought and ideas around the future of our landscapes and seascapes. These include our scene setting papers on ‘Future Landscapes’ and ‘Future Seascapes’.
- Remain a long-term resource for anyone who wants to use LCA or SCA.
Find out more about the project
The key aim of the project is to ensure that the LCA and SCA Approach documents are fit for purpose and that LCAs/SCAs provide sound evidence for managing change and strategic thinking about our future landscapes and seascapes. The project provides an important opportunity for a collaborative approach, engaging all those with an interest in landscapes and seascapes, their distinctiveness and how they may change.
There are 5 main components to this project:
- Consider any changes needed to update the ‘Approach to Landscape Character Assessment’ (2014) document and the previous edition of the guidance published in 2002.
- Consider any changes needed to update the ‘Approach to Seascape Character Assessment (2012) document to align with the work done to date on the LCA Approach document.
- Consider the opportunities to integrate the two ‘Approach’ documents and provide a cohesive approach to landscape and seascape character assessment
- Focus on the application of LCA and SCA to aid judgements and how it can integrate with other tools and processes.
- Build long-term collaboration between all those who work in landscape/seascape and land/marine management, using LCA and SCA as the means of drawing them together
Where are we now?
In 2024 work was undertaken to:
- Consider any changes needed to update the ‘Approach to Landscape Character Assessment’ (2014) document and the previous edition of the guidance published in 2002.
- Focus on the application of LCA to aid judgements and how it can integrate with other tools and processes.
- Build long-term collaboration between all those who work in landscape and land management, using LCA as the means of drawing them together
This work is on-going and further updates will be provided.
In 2025, work is underway to:
- Consider any changes needed to update ‘An Approach to Seascape Character Assessment’ (2012).
- Examine the opportunity for future integration of this and the ‘Approach to Landscape Character Assessment’ (2014).
How can you engage?
Use the links below or in the header to access further information.
Future Landscapes
