Landscape Character Assessment Study Report

Catshill and North Marlbrook is one of twenty Parishes within Bromsgrove District. It is situated in a roughly triangular area between the M5 and M42 junction, lying to the east of the M5 and north of the M42 and Bromsgrove. In December 2017 One Creative Environments Ltd. (ONE) was appointed by Catshill and North Marlbrook Parish Council (CNMPC) to provide a landscape character sensitivity and capacity assessment on the parish.

The advice was to be provided in the form of a written, illustrated report and maps based on a landscape and visual assessment of the existing boundary and its wider landscape context, informed by desktop research and discussions with representatives from CNMPC. The purpose of the assessment was to initially identify a series of character areas that make up the parish of Catshill and Marlbrook. It then provided an independent, professional assessment of the landscape sensitivity and visual sensitivity of the areas outside the current settlement boundary where future residential development could be sited. These areas are graded in terms of the capacity of sites to accept development (in landscape and visual terms) on a five point grading scale ranging from high to low with categories in between. This would ensure that the judgements arrived at could be interrogated and any future decisions made in the light of a robust and transparent evidence-based process.

The findings would be used to guide the preparation of Catshill and North Marlbrook’s Neighbourhood Development Plan.

The full Study Report can be obtained from Latest LCA Report