Essay On Landscape Assessment

After reviewing the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government’s planning guidelines for Landscape Character Assessments (LCA) it is clear the intentions of these documents. These guidelines give a template for the production of cohesive reports that include the input of professionals and non-professionals alike. These reports are focused around the landscape and encourage communal guidance for landowners, county councils and even ordinary interested parties. LCA’s give a comprehensive guide to the landscapes identity and share valuable information to aid development of land while being aware of various values the landscape may have to offer. As Landscape and Landscape Assessment portrayed, ‘we have inherited our present landscape’ and by doing so it is important for us to protect it in the most appropriate way while ensuring we don’t lose any historical, social or cultural value. Throughout this essay I will look at the main guidelines when evaluating a LCA and the various categories within while looking at Counties Meath and Carlow as examples.

The main objectives when producing an LCA are as follows; enhance the county’s positive attributes while denoting what to preserve, enhance or develop, to denote all landscape characteristics within the county, to ensure all future changes keep the landscape’s vitality at its core and assist future sustainable development. The two LCA’s I will be looking at are counties Meath and Carlow. Both counties are agriculturally focused with forestry plantations in both.

The landscape is approached systematically focusing on three classification guides; characters, values and sensitivity. Landscape character can be defined as a landscape having identifying features, values are th...

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...h is the Boyne Estuary and the associated river corridor. This would be considered an area of high sensitivity. While within the Carlow LCA the focus is on the agriculturally beneficial lowlands but not ignoring River Slaney and the surrounding river corridors.

In conclusion, a Landscape Character Assessment creates a reputable and easy to follow document that appeals to both the working profession and ordinary person with an interest in the landscape and its sustainability. I feel a LCA works well with the Irish landscape as it looks at how to preserve, conserve and sustain the landscape while developing it where possible. There is a strong focus on landscape character and values which keeps the best intention at the core of development. It is a very flexible document as it looks at the historical site as well as development through settlement and sustainability.