Appendix A – Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

Term	Abbreviation and Meaning
AOD	Above Ordnance Datum (sea level).
Agricultural Land Classification	The classification of agricultural land in England and Wales.
Analysis	The process of breaking the landscape down, usually in descriptive terms, into its component parts in order to understand how it is made up.
Ancient trees and veteran trees	Individual trees or groups of trees with wood pastures, historic parkland, hedgerows, orchards, park, and other areas. They are often found outside ancient woodlands. irreplaceable habitats with some or all of the following characteristics: Ancient trees An ancient tree is exceptionably valuable. Attributes can include its great age, size, condition, biodiversity value (as a result of significant wood decay and the habitat created from the ageing process), cultural and heritage value. Veteran trees A veteran tree may or may not be very old, but it has decay features, such as branch death and hollowing. These features contribute to its biodiversity, cultural and heritage value.
Ancient Woodland	Woodland which the evidence shows has had had continuous woodland cover since at least 1600 AD and has only been cleared for underwood or timber production. It is an extremely valuable ecological resource, with an exceptionally high diversity of flora and fauna.
AONB	Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – the term formerly used (until November 2023) for the statutory designation now known as a National Landscape.
Approach	The stepwise process by which a landscape assessment is undertaken.
Arable	Land used for growing crops.
Assessment	An umbrella term used to encompass all of the many different ways of looking at, describing, analysing, and evaluating landscape.
Biodiversity	The measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems.
Built form	The characteristic nature of built development.
Characteristic	An element that contributes to local distinctiveness (e.g. narrow winding lanes, vernacular building style).
Classification	A process of sorting the landscape into different types, each with a distinct, consistent, and recognisable character.
Condition	A judgement on the intactness and condition of the elements of the landscape.
Coppicing	The traditional method of woodland management in which trees are cut down to near the ground to encourage the production of long, straight shoots, which can subsequently be harvested.
CPRE	Campaign to Protect Rural England, a charity that campaigns to promote, enhance and protect the countryside across England.
Cultural heritage	Cultural heritage includes objects, monuments, individual sites and buildings and groups of buildings and sites that have a diversity of values including symbolic, historic, artistic, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological, scientific and social significance. It includes tangible heritage and intangible cultural heritage.
Description	Verbal description of what a landscape looks like. This is usually carried out in a systematic manner, but it may also include personal reactions to the landscape.
Dip slope	A gentle slope following the direction of the underlying geological beds.
Drift	The name for all material of glacial origin found anywhere on land or at sea, including sediment and large rocks.
Element	A component part of the landscape (e.g. hedges, roads, woods).
Enclosure	The placing in private hands of land to which there were previously common rights; the merging of commonly held strip fields to form a block surrounded by hedges.
Escarpment	A steep slope separating areas of land at different elevations (often used synonymously with ‘scarp’).
Feature	A prominent, eye-catching element (e.g. wooded hilltop, church spire).
Floodplain	The area that would naturally be affected by flooding if a river rises above its banks, or if high tides and stormy seas cause flooding in coastal areas.
GIS	Geographic Information System.
GLVIA	Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment, published by the Landscape Institute and the Institute of Environmental Management. The latest version is the 3rd edition, published in 2013, but ‘Notes and Clarifications’ on aspects of the 3rd edition were published in 2024.
GPS	Global Positioning System.
Grassland	Grassland can be improved (by management practices) semi-improved (modified by management practices and have a range of species less diverse than unimproved grasslands), or unimproved (not treated with fertiliser, herbicide or intensively grazed and consequently species diversity is high). It may be used of grazing, cut (such as for hay or silage), or left unmanaged.
Habitat	The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.
HLC	Historic Landscape Characterisation.
Hydrology	The science dealing with the occurrence, circulation, distribution, and properties of the waters of the earth and its atmosphere.
Intact	Not changed or diminished.
Intense equestrian activities	Examples include the introduction of: subdivisions to fields, permanent structures, tracks and hard surfacing, horse-walkers, gallops or sand schools/ manèges.
Land cover	Combinations of land use and vegetation that cover the land surface.
Landmark	An object or feature of a landscape or town that is easily seen and recognized from a distance, especially one that enables someone to establish their location.
Landscape	The term refers primarily to the visual appearance of the land, including its shape, form, and colours. However, the landscape is not a purely visual phenomenon; its character relies on a whole range of other dimensions, including geology, topography, soils, ecology, archaeology, landscape history, land use, architecture, and cultural associations.
Landscape character	A distinct pattern or combination of elements that occurs consistently in a particular landscape.
Landscape character area (LCA)	A unique geographic area with a broadly consistent character and identity, which forms part of a landscape character type.
Landscape character type (LCT)	A generic term for landscape with a consistent, homogeneous character. Landscape character types may occur in different parts of the county, but wherever they occur, they will share common combinations of geology, topography, vegetation, or human influences.
Landscape condition	Based on judgements about the physical state of the landscape, and about its intactness, from visual, functional, and ecological perspectives. It reflects the state of repair or intactness of individual features or elements (relating to that feature’s primary condition or ultimate desire).
Landscape value	The relative value that is attached to different landscapes. In a policy context the usual basis for recognising certain highly valued landscapes is through the application of a local or national landscape designation. Yet a landscape may be valued by different communities of interest for many different reasons without any formal designation, recognising, for example, perceptual aspects such as scenic beauty, tranquillity or wildness; special cultural associations; the influence and presence of other conservation interests; or the existence of a consensus about importance, either nationally or locally.
Linear settlement	A settlement that is built along a road, in comparison to a nuclear or dispersed settlement.
Listed Building	A building, object or structure that has been judged to be of national importance in terms of architectural or historic interest, as designated under Section 1 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.
Local Plan	A development plan prepared by local planning authorities.
LGS	Local Geological Site
Landscape and Visual Appraisal (LVA)	An assessment of the effect of a proposed development on landscape and/or views, or of the sensitivity of land to potential development. Typically a less detailed analysis than an LVIA (see below), this may be required by a Planning Authority to help understand effects that are not expected to be significant.
Landscape and Visual Impact Asssessment (LVIA)	A detailed assessment, usually carried out in accordance with guidelines published by the Landscape Institute and the Institute of Environmental Management (see separate glossary entry for GLVIA). This is likely to be required by a Planning Authority where there is potential for a proposed development to have significant impact on landscape and/or views.
LWS	Local Wildlife Site
National Landscape	A statutory landscape designation formerly (until November 2023) known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Natural character	Character as a result of natural or semi-natural features such as woodland, grassland, hedgerows etc.
Natural heritage	Natural features, geological and physiographical formations and habitats that are valued for science, conservation or natural beauty.
NCN	National Cycle Network Route.
NE	Natural England.
NNR	National Nature Reserve.
Nucleated settlement	A settlement that is clustered around a centre, in comparison to a linear or dispersed settlement.
Open Access Land	An area where the public have a right of access on foot as set out in the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act 2005.
OS	Ordnance Survey.
Pastoral	Land used for keeping or grazing sheep or cattle.
Priority Habitats	UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species and habitats were identified as being the most threatened and requiring conservation action under the UK BAP. The original lists of UK BAP priority habitats were created between 1995 and 1999 and were subsequently updated in 2007. See http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-5155 for further information.
Remnant	A part or quantity left after the greater part has been used, removed, or destroyed.
Riparian habitat	Riverbank habitat.
SAC	Special Area of Conservation (EC Directive 92/43/EEC Habitats Directive).
Scarp slope	A steep slope which cuts across the underlying strata (often used synonymously with ‘escarpment’).
Scheduled Monument	Nationally important archaeological sites or historic buildings, given protection against unauthorised change, as designated under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
Semi-natural vegetation	Any type of natural vegetation which has been influenced by human activities, either directly or indirectly.
Sense of place	A person’s perception of a location’s indigenous characteristics, based on the mix of uses, appearance and context that makes a place memorable.
Sensitive	The response to change or influence.
Skyline	The outline of landform, land cover or built form seen against the sky.
SPA	Special Protection Area (EC Directive 2009/147/EC on the Conservation of Wild Birds).
SSSI	Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Time depth	The time period expressed in the landscape, or the extent to which the landscape reflects a certain time period (a landscape with greater time depth will comprise older elements than a landscape with lesser time depth).
Topography	Combinations of slope and elevation that produce the shape and form of the land surface.
Valued landscape attributes	Positive features and characteristics that are important to landscape character and that, if lost, would result in adverse change to the landscape.