Residents of Wilmslow gave a resounding yes to the proposal to undertake a Landscape Assessment of Wilmslow in a recent meeting held by Transition Wilmslow.
At the meeting was guest speaker Jonathan Porter from Manchester based environmental consultancy, Countryscape, who gave a presentation on the subject.
Jonathan explained "There are many distinctive landscapes in and around Wilmslow including different phases of urban development, mosslands, rolling farmlands and incised river valleys. Landscape Character Assessment is an approach to understanding the differences between landscapes. It is a way of unpacking the landscape and understanding how its distinctive elements contribute to sense of place.
"It is a two stage process involving documenting the character of the landscape using maps, publications and field survey and then developing a landscape strategy through the community coming together to make give their judgements on what is important for the town. Understanding landscape character allows a town to celebrate its local distinctiveness and provides a basis for planning sustainable future landscapes."
Professor John Handley of Transition Wilmslow, said "We are very conscious that to produce an accurate landscape assessment we need to involve the whole community in obtaining their feedback on the town and the landscape around it, and what characteristics are valued by residents. Over the coming months we'll be aiming to engage with the community in a range of various ways starting with a meeting on Monday, 3rd September for anyone who would like to get involved in the process.
"With so much talk of the future of Wilmslow in the Wilmslow Vision and talk of various development plans around the town this is really the time for local residents to be documenting the characteristics of Wilmslow that are important to them. By doing this we can have a firm document which we can present to the council and would-be-developers which would be hard to ignore. I'd urge anyone wants to become involved to come along to our meeting in September, and for residents to look in the local press for ways that they can give us their opinions."
The meeting on Monday, 3rd September, will be held upstairs in the Boardroom, Bank Square at 7.30pm. To find out more visit the Transition Wilmslow website or email [email protected].
This is a member post by Rachel Corrigan.
