73 - Charnwood : Analysis: Landscape Attributes & Opportunities

Analysis supporting Statements of Environmental Opportunity

The following analysis section focuses on the landscape attributes and opportunities for this NCA.

Further analysis on ecosytem services for this NCA is contained in the Analysis: Ecosytem Services section.

Landscape attributes

Open, upland landscape with exposed summits and expansive views.

Justification for selection:

• This quality is key to the public image of and sense of place in Charnwood.
• High visitor numbers exert considerable pressure on the upland landscape. This needs to be managed to prevent deterioration of the character, quality and condition of the landscape.
• The open views across the NCA are characteristic and need to be protected from encroaching scrub.
• The upland areas of Charnwood provide valuable habitats, otherwise rare in the surrounding area.

Outcrops of ancient Precambrian rocks with thin, infertile soils on the high ground, and deeper, more fertile soils in the valley bottoms.

Justification for selection:

• Charnwood has one of the best Precambrian fossil assemblages in the world.
• The Precambrian rocks have been folded to form a series of outcrops, interrupted by faulting and partially obscured by later Mercia Mudstone strata and superficial deposits. They form one of Charnwood’s most distinctive and important features.
• The rocks should be protected from the pressure exerted by visitors, and managed to ensure that they are preserved and yet publicly accessible, for the contribution they make to educational resources, scientific research, and to creating a sense of place and history.
• These rocky outcrops, which occur throughout the area but are most notable in the open, upland landscape, are iconic symbols of Charnwood.
• The older rocks give rise to the thin, infertile and stony, acidic soils that support heathland and acid grassland, which in turn support a variety of rare species.
• The fertile soils in the valleys provide productive farmland that is important for agriculture.

A well wooded character, with many areas of mixed, deciduous and coniferous woodland.

Justification for selection:

• Following the First and Second World Wars, native broadleaf woodlands were cleared to make space for conifer plantations for timber, and Charnwood’s ancient woodlands suffered. There is potential to restore native broadleaved woodland through new planting in the future.
• Pockets of ancient woodland remain, such as at Buddon Wood and Swithland Wood, and these provide habitat for a range of species such as the spreading bellflower and species of deadwood beetle. The carpets of bluebells are particularly notable in the deciduous Charnwood woodlands.

Rectilinear patterns of Parliamentary enclosure fields, bounded by a mixture of drystone walls and hedges.

Justification for selection:

• The field pattern forms part of the landscape history of the area, with evidence of Parliamentary enclosure patterns and previous ridge-and-furrow farming practices.
• Drystone walls are distinctive to Charnwood in the wider Leicestershire landscape, and form a key component of the character of this NCA. They are in a poor state of repair in some places, and are in need of improvement.
• Older, smaller field patterns are found around the villages, and some contain fossilised ridge-and-furrow earthworks, which are an important historic feature. Hedgerows tend to be more mature in these areas, and should be protected as they support valuable habitats and species, and contribute to biodiversity networks.

The popular and well used country parks, with their important habitats and historic landscape features.

Justification for selection:

• The country parks are characterised by large, ancient, pollarded oak trees, which offer insights into the landscape history of the area, and contribute to its biodiversity.
• The variety of semi-natural habitats in Charnwood is derived from its acidic soils and geology, resulting in both heathland and acid grassland.
• Heather is a particularly important habitat for several rare invertebrates, such as the Charnwood spider. Nationally important and rare birds such as the nightjar also rely on this habitat.
• Bracken and scrub encroachment over the heathland is an issue, and a management priority for the future is to restrict this encroachment.
• Bradgate Park contains the substantial ruins of a 15th-century brick mansion. Drystone walls surround the parks – evidence of the medieval hunting-estate heritage of the area.

Clear, fast-flowing watercourses and significant reservoirs.

Justification for selection:

• Fast, clear, well-oxygenated streams support an abundance of wildlife, including rare species such as crayfish and brook lamprey.
• The Charnwood caddis fly is found in both Burleigh Brook and Wood Brook, but nowhere else in the country. The kingfisher and grey wagtail are also a characteristic sight in these brooks.
• Swithland, Blackbrook, Thornton and Cropston reservoirs are important water resources for the surrounding urban areas.
• The reservoirs and other waterbodies support varied marginal aquatic plant communities, including the rich reed swamps found at Groby Pool.
• The rock type makes the streams acidic, which is a perfect habitat for many types of algae that are highly sensitive to liming and agri-chemicals.

Local granite, Swithland Slate roofs, thatched roofs and some timber-framed buildings characterise the distinctive Charnwood villages.

Justification for selection:

• Swithland Slate, with its almost polychromatic colouring of blue-grey tinged with green, is completely different from the uniform greyness of imported Welsh slate, and is strongly characteristic of the area.
• Most of the older dwellings are built of local dark stone, either Charnwood Stone or the pink/purple Mountsorrel Granodiorite.
• Any new developments should respect the distinctive character of the villages, and be designed appropriately.
• Where possible, new development should make use of local building materials and styles.

Despite its close proximity to numerous urbanising influences, Charnwood retains remote areas of high tranquillity and a rural character.

Justification for selection:

• Proximity to large urban centres, a number of large quarries and some busy roads have an urbanising influence. Careful development management, screening these structures where possible, and the high woodland content all help to reduce the impact of these developments.

Landscape opportunities

• Conserve and manage the open, exposed character of the upland heathland and the iconic rocky outcrops, from scrub encroachment and visitor pressure, for the valuable contribution they make to Charnwood’s sense of place
• Protect internationally important fossil assemblages and improve opportunities for public enjoyment of the geodiversity interest, given the extensive natural and manmade exposures.
• Conserve the character of the distinctive inner Charnwood villages, with their local building materials and linear settlement pattern. Protect the character of the larger villages surrounding Charnwood, and ensure that new development and expansion are sensitively designed and located.
• Manage the encroachment of urbanising influences into areas with a high tranquillity rating, and where light pollution is presently limited.
• Plan to conserve the natural environment, while enhancing Charnwood as a recreational and educational resource. This is especially important in the country parks, where an open and ‘untamed’ character should be maintained, while also providing the necessary infrastructure to manage visitor pressure.
• Limit the visual impact of any new development. Additional tree and woodland planting around settlement fringes will help to integrate new development into the landscape, and will enhance existing well wooded village peripheries.
• Reduce the impact of quarrying in the area through well designed screening. Plan to maximise the geodiversity benefits of exposed rockfaces in mineral restoration plans by making provision for public access (where appropriate).
• Manage field boundaries, including replanting where necessary, to ensure that any contribution made to the landscape pattern or biodiversity networks is maximised. Maintain and improve the area’s characteristic drystone walls and hedgerows ‘ especially in areas away from the country parks, where their condition is sometimes poor.
• Retain the woodland pattern throughout the well wooded area, increasing woodland where appropriate (for example in The National Forest), and retaining the open character of the landscape in the country parks.
• Manage the reservoirs and fast, well-oxygenated streams for the riparian habitats they provide and the rare species they support, and for their contribution to character. Manage farming practices to ensure that there is no negative impact on the watercourses.
• Protect and manage the ageing specimen trees in Bradgate Country Park, and the large, ancient trees in the hedgerows. Replant to ensure continuity of this feature where possible.