Yorkshire Landscape Planning Forum

Leeds is the second largest metropolitan district in the country, covering 552 square kilometres. Although Leeds itself is an extensive urban area, the surrounding countryside accounts for approximately two-thirds of the city council's total area, with the majority being designated as Green Belt. A key feature of the Leeds landscape is the considerable variety of landform, vegetation, patterns of cultivation, character of settlements and communications networks, which together create the great diversity of landscape character within the area.

Large areas of countryside are designated as Special Landscape Area in the current saved policies of the Leeds Unitary Development Plan 2006. However the Local Development Framework is being prepared and will eventually replace it; the LDF Core Strategy was adopted in 2014.

The landscape team is located within the Environment Design Group (EDG) (which additionally includes Contaminated Land, Urban Design and Conservation teams

The Landscape Team is a multi-disciplinary team comprising:

• Landscape architects
• Nature conservation officer – http://www.leeds.gov.uk/council/Pages/Biodiversity-and-Planning.aspx
• Tree officers – http://www.leeds.gov.uk/council/Pages/TPO-and-trees-in-conservation-areas.aspx

We provide Planning advice on all aspects of landscape planning and development. Our aim is to promote sustainable development principles and stewardship of the landscape and biodiversity. For further information see
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/council/Pages/Landscape-Planning-and-Development.aspx

Documents

The Leeds Landscape Character Assessment (1994, refreshed 2011) can be found at :
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/council/Pages/Landscape-Character.aspx

Guidance on landscape treatment of the edge of development adjacent to open land (Supplementary Planning Guidance 25 supporting Policy N24 of the Leeds UDP can be found at
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/council/Pages/Greening-the-Built-Edge.aspx%23http:/www.leeds.gov.uk/docs/Greening the build Edge SG No 25.pdf

Leeds City Region is a much wider area than the metropolitan district, and includes Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, Selby, Wakefield, York and North Yorkshire County Council.

For the award-winning Leeds City Region Green Infrastructure Strategy 2010, which is not a statutory planning document but which promotes and supports sustainable land use and development across administrative borders, see
http://www.the-lep.com/LEP/media/LCR-Corporate/Research and publications/Green Economy/Green-Infrastructure-Strategy.pdf?ext=.pdf

Landscape / Planning Contact

Seamus Corr