Many different factors contribute to change in the landscape. They are as diverse as climate change, severe weather events like floods and droughts, built development, and changing land management, among others. The balance between the different factors varies in different parts of the country. There can be little doubt, however, that in some areas built development is one of the most significant causes of change. Most forms of built development are subject to planning controls and both planning policies and the implementation of these policies through development control can have a significant influence on the evolution of the landscape. Landscape Character Assessment can make a valuable contribution to the formulation of planning policies, to development control activities, to the allocation of land for development, and to processes such as environmental assessment. (See Box 8.1 for discussion of research into this link in Scotland). The use of Landscape Character Assessment in the planning sector is the focus of this chapter.

DEVELOPMENT PLAN POLICIES
In addressing landscape issues, development plans in England and Scotland have traditionally concentrated on policies for the protection of:

nationally designated landscapes like National Parks in England and now in
Scotland, as well as AONBs in England and National Scenic Areas in Scotland;

locally designated areas, usually either Areas of Great/High Landscape Value
or Special Landscape Areas;

individual landscape features, with trees the most frequently mentioned.

It is likely that policies for nationally designated areas will continue to receive the major emphasis in development plans in both England and Scotland. Approaches to local landscape designations are more varied and are largely determined by current government policy as set down in relevant planning policy guidance. In England, PPG 7 [55] advises that these local designations carry less weight than national designations and that development plans should not apply the same policies to them. It also indicates that local planning authorities should only maintain or extend local designations where it is believed that normal planning policies cannot provide the necessary protection, in which case plans must make clear what exactly it is that requires extra protection and why. When reviewing development plans, authorities are urged to "rigorously consider the function and justification of existing local countryside designations" and to ensure that they are "soundly based on a formal assessment of the qualities of the countryside". In Scotland NPPG 14 [4] indicates that local designations continue to have an important role to play in development plans and the issue of local designations is being reviewed in association with a review of national designations.