Clent and Lickey Hills Area: Landscape Value Study

CPRE Worcestershire has published Clent and Lickey Hills Area: Landscape Value Study. This largely concerns part of Bromsgrove District, but the study area extends into parts of Dudley, Wyre Forest, and Birmingham districts. It does not just relate to the hills themselves but assesses the adjacent countryside as well.

National Planning Policy Framework, paragraph 170 requires that “the planning system should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by (inter alia) protecting and enhancing valued landscapes”. CPRE Worcestershire considers that the present Bromsgrove District Plan fails adequately to do this. Accordingly it commissioned the report, which has been prepared objectively by landscape architects as independent consultants.

The report recommends that various areas should become Landscape Value Areas, with some adjacent areas as buffers to protect these. The areas recommended for protection include the summits and some slopes of the whole range of hills including Wychbury, Clent Hill, Walton Hill, Waseley Hill, Beacon Hill and Cofton Hill; also countryside at Woodcote Green, around Illey (mostly in Dudley) and around the Bittell Reservoirs.

CPRE Worcestershire calls on the various councils to include specific policies protecting both the Valued Landscape Areas and the buffer zones in their next Local Plans.