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Malham Cove The 70 metre (230ft) high, gently curving cliff of white limestone has amazed visitors for centuries. Formed along the line of the Middle Craven Fault, it has been eroded backwards from the line of the fault by the action of water and ice over millions of years.

A3 – Landscape Character Assessment

By 2020, produce a simplified and updated Landscape Character Assessment for the National Park, and use it to support initiatives, policies and plans to enhance local distinctiveness and promote positive landscape change.


How the local partners are doing on this objective

Progress: Simplified and updated Landscape Character Assessment produced, and adopted by the National Park Authority in March 2020 and is now being used to support new projects and policies for the National Park.

Press releases & related articles:

17 November 2020Major Dales landscapes study published


Rationale: The existing Landscape Character Assessment for the National Park is dated (2002) and does not cover the new area brought into the Park in 2016.  An updated and simplified assessment could be used to promote local distinctiveness, assess development capacity around settlements, inform large scale development proposals, inform a new local environmental land management scheme, and encourage development and funding for landscape-scale projects.  

Lead partnerYorkshire Dales National Park Authority

Supporting partnersNatural England

Further information: YDNPA – Landscape Character Assessment

Cost over 5 years:  £30,000

Funding shortfall:   None

Related objectives: A1; A2; A4; A7; A8; C1; D2

Ecosystem services: Sense of place and inspiration; Sense of history; Tranquillity; Geodiversity

Trade-offs:  None.  The Landscape Character Assessment is a tool for informing judgements about trade-offs, ensuring that a variety of projects and programmes can be carried out in a way that has a positive impact on landscape character.

Baseline: Landscape Character Assessment 2001.