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Landscape Townscape and Heritage
What is Landscape, Townscape and Heritage about?
Landscape, Townscape and Heritage relate to the place in which we live and the way we interact with, change and build our surroundings. We have beautiful landscapes in the British Isles, and our heritage extends from the first traces of civilisation to the most important buildings and structures of the present day. As we continue to develop, it is important that we protect the assets that people need and value.
Why is this an issue for the Highways Agency?
Motorways and trunk roads are an integral part of our transport infrastructure. They allow us to travel and visit the countryside, towns and cities, but they also affect how the countryside, towns and cities look. We have a great heritage with many historical features. When investing in new road improvements it is essential for the Agency to be aware of both the positive and adverse effects it may have and react appropriately to respect our landscapes, townscapes and heritage.
What is the Highways Agency's goal?
The Agency has objectives as part of 'Towards a balance with nature: Highways Agency Environmental Plan' that relate to landscape, townscape and heritage, these are:
- To respect the landscape character and quality of an area when designing new roads or improving existing roads. The Agency will seek to enhance the integration of the network into rural areas using a combination of sensitive road alignments, earthworks, the use of appropriate materials and planting to minimise the adverse effect of trunk road traffic on the countryside.
- To ensure that in the planning and resourcing of trunk road projects there is appropriate response to any adverse effects on the historic environment and that the historic fabric of our landscape is respected.
How is the Highways Agency achieving its goal?
The Agency is undertaking the following actions to improve performance:
Landscape
- Landscape management of the soft estate in our route strategies, to help achieve our landscape objectives.
- Reviewing landscape assessment and design practice, together with the Countryside Agency and other interested organisations, to ensure that future projects meet the above objectives.
- Reviewing landscaping guidelines and planting types, across the network, so they are consistent and appropriate to the location.
Townscape
- Reviewing townscape assessment and urban design with national and local government and other interested organisations.
Heritage
- Reviewing, with English Heritage and English Nature and other interested parties, the Highways Agency's guidance on the treatment of heritage issues, (including geological heritage), within our network management activities.
- Working with English Heritage and others in considering joint initiatives to protect and enhance the historic environment.
Some key tools for managing the Agency's operations in relation to landscape, townscape and heritage are as follows:
- Guidance and Specifications
- Environmental and Landscape Management Tools
- Partnerships
- Route Management Strategies
Monitoring Progress
The Agency's 2003-4 business plan contains this Key Performance Indicator.
| Objective | Key Performance Measure | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Respecting the Environment | Introduce no less than 8 planting schemes to enhance the landscape. | At least 95% |
Progress against this KPI will be reported in the Highways Agency Annual Report.
Future Development
- The creation of a database of current and previous cultural heritage studies by the Agency
- Research on developing new advice about good practice in assessing the need for lighting. We will aim for better lighting design in sensitive areas.
How the Agency looks after the past
During the planning process for road improvements, we firstly commission archaeologists to do a desk assessment of the area - finding out what is known about it so far. Then other survey work is commissioned, which might result in field-walking - picking up fragments which might give a clue to what lies beneath, or a geophysical survey - using electronic instruments to detect buried human activity and structures. Then comes the digging of a series of trial trenches.
When construction begins, the archaeologists are on site keeping a watching brief as the topsoil is removed; if anything significant is found, the area is roped-off for further examination. If a very important site is uncovered, every effort is made to preserve the area by redesign. During the excavations, the finds are identified and catalogued. Most go to local museums, though some of national importance can be seen in London museum collections. It's not just the finds that are valuable. The post-excavation report by the archaeologists aims to develop an understanding of the site, reconstructing the past and enabling us to better appreciate our history. Sometimes in our Targeted Programme of Improvements (TPI) a balance has to be struck between construction and the preservation of less-important areas, as it is not possible to skirt around every site. But the data is preserved in museum exhibits and excavation reports. English Heritage has advised on every project. (Roads to the Past - Trunk Roads and Archaeology)
The TPI comprises of a number of major schemes each costing more than £5million, funded either conventionally or by public-private partnership and is aimed at addressing some of the most pressing network problems, easing congestion and making travel safer, providing safer and healthier communities and supporting regeneration and integration. The schemes were originally announced in 1998 as part of 'A New Deal for Trunk Roads in England'.
Case Studies Stonehenge
The Stonehenge scheme will remove traffic from Britain's greatest prehistoric monument, by putting the road closest to the stones in a 2.1km long bored tunnel - part of the improvement scheme between Amesbury and Berwick Down.
The Highways Agency has been investigating the archaeological impact of various routes around the stones since 1991. Their conclusions have been adopted by the custodians of the stones, English Heritage, in their master plan for the site and a special database has been developed which holds all the recorded archaeology within an area of 135 square kilometres. There are 450 scheduled monuments within the World Heritage Site at Stonehenge. There will be a major programme of archaeological investigation before the tunnel is constructed which will lead to a better understanding of the history of the site.
The root to success
Local school kids have put their green fingers to good use, thanks to an Agency tree-planting scheme on the M60.
This landscaping project helps to incorporate new shrubs with existing trees and hedges on local roads. More than 100,000 trees and shrubs were planted on the new eastern section on the outer ring road, bringing the total planted around the Denton to Middleton section of motorway to an area equivalent to 72 football pitches.
Fossils from the Thames
Excavations in the Thames Estuary at Aveley as part of the construction of the A13 in Essex uncovered an exciting range of fossils, which were laid down by the Thames approximately 200,000 years ago. These included the remains of a very large lion, brown bear, wolf, horse, red deer, rhinoceros, beaver, mole, barbastelle bat, water vole and pond terrapin. The richly-organic deposits also preserved remains of birds, amphibians, shells and beetles.
A major find was the bones of a jungle cat (Felis chaus) - now found only in North Africa, India and south east Asia. The name is a misnomer - they are commonly found in marshland and are often called swamp cats. They stand about 40cms (16ins) high.
Much larger bones were found from a giant ox (Bos primigenius), a prehistoric aurochs and the forerunner of our domestic cattle. They were long-horned and stood two metres high at the shoulder. They died out in Britain in the Bronze Age. The skeleton is now resting in the Natural History Museum in London.
