This document introduces historic characterisation, and its application in spatial planning. It is aimed at local planning authorities, regeneration agencies, and developers and their agents. It includes references to other English Heritage advice and guidance available on the Historic Environment Local Management (HELM) website www.helm.org.uk. Further guidance on practical application by Local Planning Authorities can be found in Understanding Place: Character and Context in Local Planning English Heritage 2011. It sets out a number of case studies where the different approaches have been used singly and in combination and tailored to meet specic needs.
INTRODUCTION
Good quality places are an important national, regional and local resource.The character and quality of a place has an inuence on health and social well-being, nurtures community cohesion and inclusion, and draws in economic investment. Building strong places can help address the issues brought by climate change. Improving the quality of place is at the heart of sustainable development. Every place has its own character which is derived from the interaction between people and the environment, sometimes over tens, hundreds, or thousands of years.The historic environment is a key to our sense of place. It provides continuity and a source of identity which gives meaning and quality to places where we live, work and visit. It contributes to the attractiveness and vibrancy of those places, and so encourages economic investment, supports tourism, and provides a catalyst for regeneration. It can be a focus for community engagement, education, and recreation, and deliver sustainability benets through the sensitive reuse of buildings. Understanding the value of the historic environment and making the most of its potential is therefore an important element of place-shaping. Historic characterisation is the term given to a range of approaches to the identication and interpretation of the historic dimension of the present day landscape (including townscape) within a given area.These approaches can be used singly or in combination, depending on the purpose, scope, and scale of a project. They can be used alongside the distinctive and complementary approach of landscape character assessment: http://www.landscapecharacter.org.uk/
High quality places understand the value of and make the most of their historic environment of the infrastructure and buildings that past generations have bequeathed them. World Class Places, HM Government 2009 The denition of historic landscape used in this guidance is that of the Council of Europes European Landscape Convention 2000 (the Florence Convention) which has been in force in the UK since March 2007: Landscape is an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and human factors
GIS mapping has become an important tool in undertaking historic characterisation and enables the characterisation to be combined with landscape character assessment, and other environmental and visual assessments, and economic and social information. Such integration is one of its key benets. It is therefore particularly useful in Strategic Environmental Assessment, Sustainability Appraisal and Environmental Impact Assessment. They can therefore assist in meeting the government objectives for sustainable development as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) by: contributing to a robust Evidence base for development plans (NPPF paragraphs 126, 156, 157, 158, 169 and 170) indicating where Article 4 Directions may be needed (NPPF paragraphs 126 and 200) providing a focus for community engagement in Local Plan making (NPPF paragraph 155) Historic area assessments may also be used as a focus for Localism and community engagement by helping to influence Neighbourhood Development Plans and Area Action Plans for places undergoing change. Historic characterisation is a useful tool, not only for local authority planners and environmental conservation specialists, but also for developers, landscape architects, urban designers and others involved in regeneration strategies and master-planning. It can provide a context for both drawing up and assessing development proposals which affect heritage assets to ensure the significance of the asset or its setting is not adversely affected (NPPF paragraph 17, 5th point; paragraph 58 and 4th point; paragraph 126; paragraph 170).
Further information on HLC is available at http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/ research/landscapes-and-areas/characterisation/ historic-landscape-character/ and in Using Historic Landscape Characterisation.
This issue of Conservation bulletin from 2004 is about projects using the principles of historic characterisation. http://www.english-heritage.org. uk/server/show/nav.1292
More than 80% of England had now been characterised using the HLC approach.
This approach: is targeted at a specific area is related to a particular local project focuses on assets within the built and created landscape leads to an understanding of condition and significance and special architectural and/or historic interest identifies areas under pressure or in decline. Guidance can be found at: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/ publications/paradise-preserved/paradise_ preserved_20081010174134.pdf/ on page 22 of Paradise Preserved English Heritage 2007.
A short users guide to carrying out HAAs was published in June 2010.
REFERENCES
Clark, J, Darlington, J and Fairclough, G, 2004 Using Historic Landscape Characterisation English Heritage and Lancashire County Council www.english-heritage.org.uk/ HLC Council of Europe, 2000 European Landscape Convention www.coe.int Communities and Local Government, 2010 Planning Policy Statement 5: Planning for the Historic Environment www.communities.gov.uk English Heritage, 2010 Characterisation and Spatial Planning English Heritage, 2007 Paradise Preserved English Heritage Conservation Bulletin 47 English Heritage, 2010 Understanding Place. Historic Area Assessments in a Planning and Development Context www.english-heritage.org.uk English Heritage, 2010 Seeing the History in the View www.english-heritage.org.uk HM Government, 2009 World Class Places: The Governments Strategy for Improving Quality of Place www.communities.gov.uk Homes and Communities Agency and English Heritage, 2009 Capitalising on the Inherited Landscape. An Introduction to Historic Characterisation for Master Planning Menuge, A (ed), 2010 Understanding Place. Historic Area Assessments: Principles and Practice www.english-heritage. org.uk Thomas, RM, 2006 Mapping the Towns: English Heritages Urban Survey and Characterisation Programme Landscapes 7 (1) 2006 68-92
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