Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) - how it is done

In 2002, together with the then Countryside Agency in England (now part of Natural England), Scottish Natural Heritage published Landscape Character Assessment: Guidance for England and Scotland.  Associated with this guidance are various topic papers  giving more information on particular aspects of LCA.

In summary, landscape character assessment considers the main landscape components of:

• landform (such as hills, straths or glens),
• land cover (such as rivers, lochs, woodland or farmland), and
• settlement (such as towns, villages, farmsteads).

It analyses these in some detail, for example:

• Are the hills rounded or angular?
• What type and pattern of woodland is dominant: broadleaved or coniferous; in shelterbelts, clumps or large plantations?
• Is the settlement scattered as single dwellings or small groups, or is it in villages?

It then looks at how all these combine to form the landscapes we see and experience.