Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

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1 Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty FIXED POINT PHOTOGRAPHY CONDITION MONITORING STUDY A study report by Landscape Matters February 2011

2 Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty FIXED POINT PHOTOGRAPHY CONDITION MONITORING STUDY A study report produced by Landscape Matters for Cannock Chase AONB Unit February 2011 Landscape Matters Glendale Sandhills Green Alvechurch Birmingham B48 7BT Tel : da@landscapematters.freeserve.co.uk

3 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION... i AONB FPP STUDY AREA... ii iii FIXED POINT PHOTOGRAPHY (FPP) LOCATIONS GENERAL MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS REFERENCES The Cannock Chase Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (CCAONB) was designated in 198 with the primary purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the AONB area. Natural England has given the task of ensuring that this purpose is achieved to the CCAONB Partnership which is comprised of Staffordshire County Council, Cannock Chase District Council, Lichfield District Council, South Staffordshire Council, and Stafford Borough Council together with its Joint Committee. This Partnership body employs a wide range of strategies and initiatives to ensure that the CCAONB area is successfully cared for on a day to day basis as well as over the long term. The CCAONB Management Plan is the latest in a series of plans which sets down what the aims and objectives of the AONB will be and how this is to be achieved over a year period. Monitoring is one of the key aspects of the Plan in order to assess the landscape condition of the area and is part of a national set of objectives for AONBs. The previous Management Plan stated under Managing the Landscape that the monitoring objective should record the extent, condition, and change in characteristic landscape features and that this should be achieved through the use of a fixed point photography / aerial monitoring programme. As a consequence in 2004 the CCAONB Partnership identified 0 fixed point locations within the AONB and key viewpoints outside of the AONB area from which photographs should be taken. This was undertaken initially by a professional photographer (Steve Welch) who also established the recording methodology. The Fixed Point Photography (FPP) programme commenced in October 2004 with future photographs programmed to be taken each October and February. In 200 a further 6 FPP locations were added to the programme, and AONB volunteers were trained and have helped to undertake the on-going photographic work, under the guidance of Steve Welch. Although the photographic record was collated and referred to during the life of the previous Plan no formal monitoring assessment report was produced. In the current Management Plan policy LM1 states, and the FPP Photographic Group tasked with ensuring, that a report be completed during the lifetime of the Plan. In addition, in the CCAONB s State of the AONB Report it drew attention to an increasingly pressing need to assess the condition of the AONB landscape in order that the findings might be used to inform the next revision of the Management Plan, as well as on-going site management. In response to these documents the CCAONB Unit appointed Landscape Matters in November to undertake the Condition Monitoring Study for all 6 FPP locations covering the period October 2004 to October. Based on the photographic evidence Landscape Matters has assessed each FPP location by :- Providing a visual description of each view in 2004 stating what the condition of the hard landscape features (e.g. roads, paths, pylons, railways) and the soft landscape features (e.g. forestry, hedges, ground cover) were like. Annotating relevant photographs and supporting text describing how the landscape appears to have changed over the 6 years. This has been divided into hard and soft landscape features to provide a consistent study approach. The comments are based on the photographic record as well as through discussions with relevant agencies such as the Forestry Commission, the AONB Unit, Staffordshire County Council, Lichfield District Council and South Staffordshire Council. Where land within a FPP view is managed under an agri-environmental scheme (e.g. ewgs, ELS, HLS) then reference has been made to this together with pertinent scheme prescriptions. Specific management recommendations for each FPP location have been suggested, again divided into hard and soft landscape features. Comments on the changes in the landscape and the suggested management recommendations are Landscape Matters own observations although they have been partially derived from conversations with the Study consultees. The final section of the Study, entitled General Management Recommendations, draws together observations and conclusions based on all 6 FPP locations. Common threads are defined and grouped together in separate topics (Photographic locations; Forestry; Agriculture; Horsiculture; Recreation; Ecology; Planning; and Historic) for ease of reference although in practice many of these are inter-related and will need to be tackled in an holistic way. Landscape Matters was provided with all of the FPP records on a CD correctly titled and dated by Steve Welch. The photographs were then carefully assessed by Douglas Allenby of Landscape Matters who is a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute, and also a landscape architect with 2 years experience of landscape design and landscape management, including sensitive rural projects. For each FPP location Landscape Matters has limited its study to the photographs themselves and not carried out site visits to verify whether the photographs provide an accurate portrait of the landscape or not.

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5 TocH Deer Viewing Platform SK00110 Firewatch Sherbrook SJ Brindley Heath SJ West Cannock No. SK Old Acre SJ Peace Vista SJ9841 Sherbrook from Brocton Coppice SJ Ansons Bank A SJ Ansons Bank B SJ Sherbrook from bench off Chase Road SJ Upper Oldacre SJ Penkridge Bank SJ a Castle Ring North SK b Castle Ring SK Wolseley Bridge SK a Weetmans Bridge SK b Weetmans Bridge SK a Tixall Gatehouse SJ b Tixall view from Gatehouse SJ a Hickford Bridge SJ b Hickford Bridge SJ9721 Little Haywood SK Etchinghill SK Stafford Brook Road SK Slitting Mill SK Stile Cop SK0311 Gentleshaw Common SK01113 Chase Terrace SK Hayfield Hill SK Prospect Village SK Huntington Mound SJ Huntington Belt SJ Shoal Hill SJ Hatherton Park SJ a Brocton and Bednall SJ b Brocton and Bednall SJ Vivians Wood SJ Triumphal Arch, Shugborough SJ Broc Hill SJ Milford Common SJ Milford Common SJ Shugborough Park SJ Blithbury Road, Colton SK Lodge Covert SJ Tackeroo SK Near Seven Springs SK Brocton Village SJ Satnalls Hill Quarry SJ Dunston SJ Gailey Lea Lane SJ Hatherton Footpath SJ Goosemoor Green SK Near Brocton Crossroads SJ Hill Ridware SK Hazelslade SK Borough Lane, Longdon SK Brereton Hill Lane, Upper Longdon SK Rugeley Quarry SK Pottal Pool Quarry SJ97919 Oldacre SJ Etchinghill SK FPP Location Example :- FPP Location No. 2 identified by the purple dot; direction of photographic record indicated by the green shading which for this location covers 220 to 330. N.B. Where there is a complete green circle around the location dot this refers to a 360 panoramic shot.

COUNTRYSIDE TRAINING PARTNERSHIP Ltd. State of the AONB Report Cannock Chase AONB

COUNTRYSIDE TRAINING PARTNERSHIP Ltd State of the AONB Report Cannock Chase AONB Front cover: Brindley Heath Cannock Chase AONB This page: Beaudesert bluebells Cannock Chase AONB State of the AONB Report