England’s Historic Seascapes Programme: European Landscape Convention

Aerial view across Penzance, Newlyn and Mount’s Bay. © Dave Hooley The European Landscape Convention (ELC) is a Council of Europe convention and has been in force in the UK since 1 March 2007. Specifically included within its scope are the coastal waters and territorial seas of the states that ratify it. The ELC contains a range of measures aimed at the promotion of landscape protection, management and planning, underpinned by principles of sustainable development. It specifically recognises the role of landscape as a basic component of cultural heritage and identity and as an important contributor to quality of life, from which its management is a legitimate object of public interest. It particularly insists that landscape policies should be integrated with all spheres of government policy.

Windfarm under construction off the Norfolk Coast. © English Heritage/NMR The ELC embodies many concepts already at the heart of historic landscape characterisation (HLC), including the central roles of human perception in defining landscapes and of human activity in creating them. This is clearly expressed in the ELC definition of landscape as ‘an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors’. Similarly with HLC, it embraces the need for a territorially comprehensive approach, encompassing commonplace and poorly regarded landscapes as well as the rare and special. The ELC obliges us to engage in understanding and managing our dynamic landscapes everywhere in a way that recognises their diversity and the complex interplays of cultural and natural forces that influence their perception.

Aerial view across Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. © English Heritage/NMR The ELC provides a highly relevant context for developing our methodology for characterising coastal and marine landscapes. In embodying the principles of HLC, historic seascapes characterisation (HSC) will offer an effective tool in meeting our ELC obligations, building a comprehensive, landscape-scale understanding capable of accommodating and informing a range of perceptions.

Further information on the European Landscape Convention can be found on the Council of Europe website.