The Forest of Dean has a rich and varied natural environment,
which helps to define the essential landscape character of the
local area, and contributes to its biological diversity. The
District Council wish to encourage high quality development,
which makes a positive contribution to the protection and
enhancement of the local environment, through the consideration
of landscape and biodiversity issues. It is therefore important
that these issues are recognised as essential parts of a
planning application from an early stage in the planning
process. The District Council aims to ensure that our landscapes
and the wildlife they contain, are protected and enhanced
appropriately, in order to follow national planning guidance and
local planning policies, whilst also meeting the needs of
development (see The Forest of Dean District Council Local Plan
and the Local Development Framework). Guidance on wider
landscape issues and landscape character assessment are
available in the Landscape Supplementary Planning docum