Welcome to
Firle Landscape Planning
Landscape Planning Services
Landscape planning for locality and 'sense of place'
Firle Landscape Planning specialises in providing landscape and townscape planning advice for small and large-scale development sites within rural and urban contexts. All assessment work is undertaken by a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute (CMLI), following robust, defensible methodologies and current best-practice guidance.
There is often an emphasis within the planning process on 'landscape-led' design, which involves taking into account the existing landscape and visual character of the Site and feeding this information into the different stages of the iterative design process to ensure that development proposals respect and enhance their landscape and visual surroundings.
Our range of work encompasses the principles of a 'landscape-led' approach and feeds these inputs into the following stages of the planning and development process:
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Development feasibility and Pre-planning layout advice relating to the existing landscape and visual character of the Site.
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Pre-planning Landscape and Visual Constraints and Opportunities mapping and advice.
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Landscape and Visual Appraisal (LVA) and Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) as part of planning application submissions (including GIS Zone of Theoretical Visibility mapping).
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Illustrative Landscape Design Strategies and Plans (often undertaken as part of the LVA/LVIA process).
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Hard/Soft Landscaping Plans.
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Masterplanning.
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In addition, we also undertake Strategic Landscape and Townscape Character Assessments.
Development feasibility and Pre-planning layout advice
We can provide advice on the potential landscape and visual Opportunities and Constraints of a Site. This would include a review of any landscape-related designations and a brief overview of the existing landscape and visual character of the Site. Early consideration would also be given to ways in which the landscape of the Site and its surroundings could be enhanced, provision of new or links to existing Green Infrastructure and contribution to Ecosystem Services.
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The preparation of a Landscape and Visual Advice Note and/or a Landscape and Visual Opportunities and Constraints Plan to accompany a Pre-Planning Application Submission can be a useful aid to demonstrate early consideration of the landscape and visual character of the Site in relation to development proposals, particularly within or at the edges of sensitive or designated landscapes such as National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Landscape and Visual Appraisal (LVA) and Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment
Landscape and Visual Appraisal (LVA) and Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) are tools used to identify and assess the significance of and the effects of change resulting from proposed developments on both the landscape, as an environmental resource in its own right and on people’s views and visual amenity. The process involves a description of the existing Landscape and Visual Baseline of the Site, followed by the identification and description of the potential Landscape and Visual effects of the proposed development and suggestions for ways in which to mitigate potential effects.
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As part of this assessment process, a series of annotated photo viewpoints are produced to illustrate potential views towards the proposed development from publicly accessible Public Rights of Way, Open Access Land and road corridors. Depending on the scale and complexity of the proposed development, we utilise computer-generated (GIS) mapping to establish the potential Zone of Theoretical Visibility (ZTV), which is then verified in the field.
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LVA and LVIA reports are always accompanied by a series of Plans to illustrate the Landscape and Visual baseline of the Site and provide an indication of the location of potential viewpoints.
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Landscape Plans
​We prepare a range of Landscape Plans for proposed development Sites as part of the Planning process. These utilise CAD, GIS and Adobe Creative Suite software and include the following examples:​
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Illustrative Landscape Design Strategies and Plans (often undertaken as part of the LVA/LVIA process).
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Hard/Soft Landscaping Plans.
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Masterplans.
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Zone of Theoretical Visibility Plans.
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Landscape Character Plans.
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Annotated photo viewpoint panoramas.
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About Firle Landscape Planning
Emma Clarke BA (Hons) MA CMLI, is a Chartered member of the Landscape Institute. Emma studied Archaeology and Prehistory (BA) and Landscape Design (MA) at the University of Sheffield.
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Emma has a detailed understanding of the historical time depth of landscapes and how this contributes to the interplay of landscape and visual characteristics that contribute to defining unique sense of place. She has a strong appreciation of the sensitivities of historic and current landscapes and the pressures which these can face.
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Emma has many years of experience, undertaking landscape assessments for upland and lowland landscapes and their settings throughout the UK, including protected landscapes such as the South Downs, Lake District and North York Moors National Parks and High Weald, Kent Downs, Forest of Bowland and North Norfolk AONB's. She has a wide range of experience of undertaking Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments (LVIA) for National infrastructure Schemes, for new road and rail corridors, wind farms and other renewable energy schemes and Landscape and Visual Assessments (LVA) for smaller residential and commercial schemes, particularly within and at the edges of sensitive landscapes. Landscape and visual assessments, are undertaken following robust and defensible best-practice methodologies.
Emma also has a keen understanding of the complex layers that contribute to townscape character and the pressures on urban areas, resulting from her work on Townscape Character and Urban Fringe assessments.
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In addition to Landscape Planning, Emma is interested in Landscape Photography and capturing the experiential qualities of landscapes, townscapes and seascapes.
If you would like to know more about the Landscape Planning Services that we can provide, or for an initial, no obligation discussion about your Site, please don't hesitate to get in touch!
