This report is the outcome of a study commissioned by Landscape and Restoration Branch of Scottish Natural Heritage as part of the national programme of landscape assessment which aims to:
provide a body of baseline knowledge on the landscapes of Scotland;
facilitate the monitoring of landscape change and advice on such change;
assist both in strategic development plan review and detailed planning and landscape casework.
Within the administrative boundary of Central Region, shortly to be reconstituted as the three unitary authorities of Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannan, two landscape assessment studies have already been undertaken to the methodology specified for the national programme. This report completes the coverage of the Region by including the study area shown on the Location Plan.
The report is structured as follows:
Chapters 1 and 2: Review the evolution of the major physical and cultural influences on the landscape;
Chapter 3: Provides detailed description of the nature of the landscape resource, within the framework of an hierarchical classification system;
Chapter 4: Highlights the natural and cultural attributes which contribute most significantly to landscape character;
Chapter 5: Reviews the main pressures currently acting on the landscape likely to bring about future change;
Chapter 6: Provides an overall landscape strategy to accommodate change, including detailed guidelines referring to each of the individual character areas.