Landscape

Land Management Services Ltd was commissioned by the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to prepare a response to the report entitled ‘Landscape Sensitivity Assessment of the Potential Impact of the Scale and Distribution of Development in the North Wessex Downs AONB’ prepared by Kirkham Landscape Planning Ltd and The Terra Firma Consultancy Ltd for West Berkshire dated January 2011

Please see the introductory document below for further information.

Introduction

• Chieveley Site Assessment
• Compton Site Assessment
• Great Shefford Site Assessment
• Hermitage Site Assessment
• Hungerford Site Assessment
• Kintbury Site Assessment
• Lambourn Site Assessment
• Pangbourne Site Assessment
• Conclusion

• Aldbourne Site Assessment
• All Cannings Site Assessment
• Baydon Site Assessment
• Burbage Site Assessment
• Cherhill Site Assessment
• Devizes Site Assessment

Find out more about this special forest with its unique history and many ancient trees.

Factsheet on Savernake Forest

This event for owners of under-managed woodland  was held in May 2017.  This report includes details of the proceedings plus links to more information. It is a useful document for any woodland owner who needs some advice on how to improve the management of their wood.

Download Report on Make Your Woodland Work for You Event 2017

Geographically the parishes of Fyfield and West Overton are unique within the Marlborough Community Area: they contain four different landscape character areas - Kennet Valley, Marlborough Downs, Horton Downs and the Savernake Plateau.

A group of local people, mainly associated with the Fyfield & West Overton Parish Council, formed a "Landscape Group" with the objective of informing themselves, and subsequently the local community, about the unique features and heritage of the local landscape, and to record what they found.

The report was distributed locally as well as sold to benefit a range of local projects.

Download Fyfield and West Overton Landscape Assessment

This study, which encompasses the entire AONB area, was approved by the North Wessex Downs AONB Council of Partners on 31st March 2006. It is used by local planning authorities in the AONB to help develop policies for their new local development frameworks (LDFs) and has been used as a material consideration in planning applications for the erection of wind turbines.

The study considers the sensitivities of each of the landscape types in the AONB to different forms and heights of wind turbines and identifies the key constraints to this form of development.

Download Landscape Sensitivity to Wind Turbines study

The geodiversity of the North Wessex Downs AONB underpins almost every aspect of the AONB’s character and dramatically influences the landscape which we see today. From the rolling hills of the chalk downland with their dry valleys to the characteristic chalk buildings and the puzzles of the sarsen stones. The influence of the North Wessex Downs geodiversity on the landscape has long been appreciated but the value of the geodiversity for recreation, land management and education has been overlooked. The Local Geodiversity Action Plan will help to promote the value of our geodiversity and the benefits that its conservation and promotion can bring to our appreciation and enjoyment of the beauty of the North Wessex Downs.

Download Geodiversity Action Plan

Much of the North Wessex Downs is underlain by Chalk. Chalk is a soft white limestone traversed by layers of flint. It consists of minute calcareous shells and shell fragments which are the remains of plankton which floated in clear, sub-tropical seas covering most of Britain during the Upper Cretaceous, between 95 and 65 million years ago.

Geology groups across the region have produced a series of fact sheets explaining how the underlying chalk affects other characteristic features of this unique area including landscape, soils, land use, industry, hydrology & archaeology. Please click below to download each factsheet.

• Chalk and Industry
• Chalk and Chalk Streams
• Chalk and Building Materials
• Chalk and Groundwater
• Chalk and Landscape
• Chalk and Archaeology
• Chalk Art and Literature
• Chalk and the Racing Industry

The integrated Landscape Character Assessment establishes the identity of the AONB as a whole and provides a summary of the main influences on contemporary landscape character. These include physical, cultural, ecological, social and economic characteristics. It also includes a review of perceptions of the AONB.

This Technical Report presents the results of the range of studies that have investigated the physical, ecological, historical, social, economic and cultural, and recreational characteristics of the AONB.

• Introduction
• Overview
• Character of North Wessex Downs AONB

Download chapters for the relevant landscape character areas below:

• Open Downland
• Downland with woodland
• Wooded Plateau
• High Chalk Plain
• Downs Plain and Scarp
• Vales
• River Valleys
• Lowland Mosaic
• The Future
• Appendices