FPCR is pleased to have been appointed by The National Forest Company, acting on behalf of the Charnwood Forest Regional Park partnership, to carry out an updated landscape character assessment for Charnwood Forest.

Charnwood Forest is England’s unexpected upland. Created in a volcanic eruption 600 million years ago in the oceans near the South Pole, Charnwood has developed rich layers of heritage. Its landscape is defined by granite-topped hills, wooded valleys, heathlands and grasslands. Its shaded lanes reveal Arts and Crafts cottages, ancient monasteries and drystone walls. It is a surprising outpost of upland England in lowland Leicestershire. But, despite being on the doorstep of cities, towns and villages, its value and beauty is hidden from most communities and it has been overlooked for protected status. The Charnwood Forest Regional Park partnership aims to produce a landscape conservation action plan (LCAP) to secure its sustainable future.

As part of this, the Landscape Character assessment will bring together what is known about the physical characteristics of the landscape, summarise what it is about the scheme area that matters, to whom and why. The comprehensive landscape character assessment will help the Regional Park’s partners to enhance and protect the area’s distinctive landscapes, improve people’s understanding of, and connection to, the area whilst helping to promote Charnwood Forest’s unique sense of place and importance.