James Blake on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/e4dQ825Q When Will Spring Arrive??? See the gif sequence… (2024)

Promoting Land in the Landscape for Devekopment - part 2: Relative Harm: I once worked with a well regarded planning KC in a scheme and we had a constructive exchange about relative harm. The site was a green field edge of settlement situation and the key landscape thread was to assess the relative harm to the landscape and to its many receptors from the proposals, with a little clarification on the absurd colaescence hand grenade that had been tossed in by the refusal motice too boot. The site was not brownfield so often (but not always), we landscape architects in Landscape and Visual Appraisals and Impact Assessments, and for Proofs of Evidence, are concerned with admitting that there will be some technical harm - in the construction period and for a few years (for the landscape factors and the affected receptors) but with the proposed mitigations, the level of harm will be minor or negligible after 15 years of growth, and then it is up to the Inspector to ascertain if this limited harm is more important than all the benefits of providing the development. Verified views and montages can be crucial in evidencing this. Good ones are hard to besmirch, because they are verified! However, not all development causes harm! One village in Somerset I know well illustrated the point well. The village was an example of ribbon development - right back to its origins, and has no centre, focus or indication that you’d been in it. A development was proposed near the pub on the only major corner on a disused and isolated horse paddock. The materials and designs were traditional and the development was very well conceived in urban design terms. An attractive hierarchy of buildings and well clustered around a central green. The village gained a focus and a heart, and the countryside and receptors were certainly better for it. This is a great example, just why there are positive effect nomenclatures within the LVIA process. In conclusion, not all development causes harm.One site had a key landcaape charateristic of cross-valley views, apparent from a network of high sensitivity footpaths. The key here was to assess how the development would actually look nestling in the valley and whether the degree of harm caused was going to be high. Fortunately for the land promoter, there was already new development in the views to make comparison with. With the aid of verified views, montages and mitigations proposed, it was possible to show how the new proposals would be entirely analogous with the existing proposals and almost completely mitigated after 15 years too. One factor was the use of dark roofing materials to blend best in the background tones. However, going forward there is an important debate about this being a sustainable plan. If we camnot limit greenhouse gas emissions in time to prevent catastrophic climate change, then reflecting the suns energy back is. Going to become vital and that means reflective white roofs!!!

Promoting Land in a Landscape for Development:In this series I will explore some of the issues and material considerations in promoting land regarding the impacts on the landscape setting. There are what are called landscape factors (relating to the capacity of the landscape to receive development without harming it, its character and qualities); and visual factors: (and one of the key factors and questions I ask is simply this - Can you see it? And if so from where and what sensitivity is the receptor you can see it from). The latter is a key factor in the Green Belt promotions too. One site Inworked on had a land parcel assessed under a Green Belt review and it was deemed that development would do major harm to one of the 5 purposes of the Green Belt, because development would be intervisible between the major settlements. When I was asked to consider this land by a client, my first question was this…. Is there any of this parcel that you cannot see from both major settlements? The answer was yes! Half the site could be developed without intervisibility from the major settlements. In other words, by applying a finer grain to the land parcels - less harm was caused by developing one part than another. This meant by splitting the parcel, part A could be down-graded to moderate harm to the 5 purposes. If it was built on it would not be apparent that the the two settlements were any less separated by countryside. With visual impacts on landscape, there are 4 outcomes in assessing the degree of harm from a development, 1. You can’t see it - least harm, 2. You can see it but mitigation planting will ensure you can’t see it. 3. You can see it but mitigation planting will filter views & reduce impact, and 4. You can see it and no mitigation will be possible. Mitigation planting has to be appropriate, so not to add to landscape harm, I.e. introducing new field boundaries that are incongruous to the landscape character would reduce visual harm but add to land scape harm. Development patterns can be incongruous to established ones. A proof I rebutted alluded to the development being of linear form & yet later talked about the village as a nucluated settlement, like the spokes of a wheel. The fact was the space between the spokes had been filled in by new development for decades and the proposal was simply going to follow the same principles. The form of development was not therefore out of character for the settlement edge, but instead very much analogous to it. The key tool for assessing mitigation planting in ensuring you can’t see the development within 15 years is to use montages on verified views. This assumes a growth rate as landscape architects we know is achievable from native planting belts and hedges, with a good planting specification. The sensitivity of the receptor is also a key factor in assessing harm. Public footpaths are the most sensitive because they are about viewing the landscape at leisure. More about all this soon!

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https://lnkd.in/e4dQ825QWhen Will Spring Arrive???See the gif sequence for the GFS weather model: whilst there are signs of spring returning - don’t be fooled - because it could be a false dawn: right at the end of the sequence, you’ll notice the wind swings back into the north east. Part of the effects of climate change on the UK specifically, seems to be a propensity for the weather to get stuck in a rut, with patterns repeating over again. There is also a tendency for winters to be much milder, autumns and winters to be wetter and summers hotter and drier!! However it also seems to mean that we get cold northerly winds early in the winter (December) and late on (April/ May) the second and third months of spring. There is no real sign to any sustained end to this cold northeely airstream thus far, but when it comes - towards Mid May, it will be very hot very suddenly. I’m not too sure which I prefer- but bright sunny weather and not too hot would be best - if only it were that simple!! Beware the odd frost and protect those bedding plants - the old adage of not casting a clout until May is out might have arisen from a pre-climate change age, but perhaps not untilThe first week of May is out - might be a more contemporary if less catchy version!! Having seen hail so hard and long that it dropped the late April day time temperature to 3degrees and left a white covering, next weeks slightly milder period will be most welcome! I heard the cuckoo for the first time yesterday and a nightingale - but they must be wondering what they bothered to fly all that way for!!

A few years ago, as soon as I would post anything about Climate Change, I’d have a barrage of bunkum from this in denial or who chose to believe the more convenient theories spun by the funding from the petro-chemical industry to produce “Alternitive facts” to the real ones coming through our own research universities, such as UEA. The BBC drama “The Trick” portrays this as clearly as did ITV with their programme about the Post Office scandal. Now even Reform accept it exists - as the data and evidence is too apparent to besmirch. Whether it is too late to save the planet, and having no Planet B, we have to adapt to the enviable gathering climate change effects. We have already seen the warming of winters: Its hard to believe that my dad learned to ice skate on ponds on his fathers Sussex farm. Can you imagine that now??? Its a lot wetter, to the point our sewage system cannot cope with the surface water run-off and summers can be so hot at times, you could fry an egg on the tarmac. What does that all mean for the landscape architect? It means this...what ever we plant we have to address the following: 1. Regulate soil moisture - from water logging to drought2. Plants to cope with rare extreme cold and regular extreme heat3. Plants chosen need to be the tougher ones, reducing choice.4. Plants need to cope with variable soil moisture and quality.Herbaceous plants cope better than shrubs, but most need significant maintenance, knowledge and experience and have little impact in winter. There are evergreen ones like Bergenia and some grasses, but most are deciduous, need dead heading, dividing and management, such as flower supports. Many shrubs I have seen used cannot cope with drought, such as Photinia, and many cannot cope with waterlogged soil, after relentless rainy weather, and that includes most silvery foliage plants from more arid parts. The collective stressors make small inconsistencies like the straw that broke the camel’s back. So plant Bergenia in the sun, on a building site, it dies. In your sheltered garden, it might not, if you keep it moist enough. So if a plant needs shade, it means north side or north-east side locations only. Some cope with east side locations because AM sun is cooler than midday or PM sun. Using a sheet mulch to keep the soil moisture from just evaporating away in the intense hot spells is now obligatory. Ensuring drainage is less easy to resolve. The house wall does this well by accident of the heave prevention sheet. Away from the wall, in clay, you’ll need to design drainage in to beds, especially for capped sites. This can mean gravel slots in the soil, ideally with geo textile to take moisture down to the base. Sandy, clay loams are best, but we have to work with what we have and some sites are very clayey, and without a grid of gravelled slots, they bake like a brick in hot sun, and form an anaerobic grey if waterlogged. Only bog marigolds and other bog species will cope with a grey gloop.

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With housing schemes amounting to 78% of commissions for landscape architects, there is very little discussion about ensuring sustainable design for the areas in the face of climate change for the areas that we design around the houses for planning. This has a little to do with the dynamics involved. Designers are snooty about this sort of work - as their bread and butter; clients often dismiss it as low importance because they will sell the houses before it goes in the ground and those approving it dont always know a good scheme from a bad one. having said all that, 4/5ths (80%) of the development land is external works, be it gardens, roads, paths, frontages and green spaces. The good appearance and design of the landscape on phase 1 will have a big impact on selling phase 2, and the street scene will be significantly enhanced by it.One of the key factors for sustainable landscapes is simply knowing plants that grow well and survive for the long term in these complex microclimates, which vary greatly from the sheltered doorstep zone to the exposed street facing screen wall. Knowing that your Choisya “Sundance” will only grow well if beside the foundation foam protectors against heave, for the drainage it affords the plant, is a vital grain of knowledge (amid a sack full) only years experience doing it will teach you. For a successful and sustainable scheme the base line has to be longevity. Poorly performing plants just get taken out by the residents, and then you will be in the land of. The lucky dip as to what goes back in (the good, the bad and the ugly). Longevity means the right plants for sun and shady locations, N,S, E & W, the right plant for the level of exposure; the right one for the level of maintenance it will receive (80% very little), and plants known to be unfussy about the soil quality. Surprisingly - there are great plants for every location, but it is essential you, the approving officer and ideally the client too knows them - to ensure you have a baseline scheme that works. This includes knowing where turf will fail due to shade. If it will, there is no point in using it, even if it is cheap. If the client wants to focus plants at the front of the site for cost, use gravel over a membrane for replacing the silly slivers of shaded grass.For biodiversity, using native species near houses is a disaster. They’re too vigorous, unruly & wild looking to look right, be maintained and to avoid annoying the resident so much that they just take out the plants. You need species that flower and have leaves invertebrates love to eat. The irony here is that reality is very different to purist theory. The reality is that any of our invertebrate species have been around the “exotics” long enough to munch away at them perfectly well thank you. Apart from the narcotic nectar of rhododendrons, most flowers provide valuable nectar for bees. My next post will address the big issue - that of climate change: The greatest challenge.

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Designing for the Maintenance Level.One of the most common and pervasive criticisms of the landscape designs I see from other practices stems from the hopeful but unrealistic levels of maintenance the scheme will require. I’m in my garden weekly, sometimes for 2 days of it. I think my garden is tidy, but its a mess compared to my sister-in-laws: she spends every day in her garden - and you could open it to the public and charge good fees to view it. I always have garden envy when i go there!! However, for landscape design for development - the landscape design needs to reflect the level of maintenance it is likely to receive, and that is not going to be weekly. Frankly, 4 visits a year is good, and grass cutting perhaps 7-10 if you are lucky.It is not just the quantity of maintenance to consider too, but also the relative skill set of the maintenance received. I once designed a scheme in my capacity as one of the landscape team at the London Borougher of Tower Hamplets. The maintenace guys used clip every shrub into a ball, as if it was a topiary, regardless of the species!! The reality is that simple tasks like sitting on a ride-on mower and hedge trimming with electric clippers is about the top level of skill we can often expect. yet I see the most intricate of schemes, with multiple herbaceous plants, needing dividing, dead-heading and special soil care. I have seen shrubs planted in unsuitable places, with species needing pruning at specific times of the year, and each different to the others. I sadly expect to see acid loving plants in Alaska line soil and shade lovers in full sun (& vice-versa), but often there are too many sensitive and exposure intolerant exotic species in formal beds, that just wont survive past the second season and will be overcome with weeds, tree seedlings and brambles etc.It is imperative to work with nature and avoid ornamental shrubs in open spaces wherever possible, and keep schemes natural. Detailed cutting regimes for rough meadow, wildflower grass and close mown lawn can be too complex, so keep the intended height and number of cuts and timings clear and as simple as possible.Use native trees and sub canopy species in clusters in the shard, not using actual beds, but instead, allow the clusters to form areas of longer edge herbaceous vegetation that is left uncut, & perhaps with native bulbs, with one or two cut meadows beyond, and clear easy mow lines of close mown grass for paths, grass glade spaces for picnicking and gatherings, with the spaces defined by the clusters of sub canopy plantings & shade pools envisaged from nodes of canopy trees - that will mature in time, & can be planted as feathered stock to stand out from the smaller whips. Such schemes can be managed at the minimal maintenance levels afforded by the maintenance levy charged by new households in new settlements or commercial developments. Even better, these schemes will be able to be sustained & far more biodiverse.

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What Native Species Will Survive in Climate Changed Britain??With global temperatures already at 1.68 degrees above pre-industrial levels, smashing the COP 2015 protocol to limit the global rise to 1.5 degrees - we will be facing a rapid stressing of many of our UK native species used to our cool and temperate climate of the last 10,000 years. To see these changes in one persons lifetime is unprecedented in global terms: wildlife and plants in particular cannot adapt that quickly. Many of our native flora wilted and perished in the dry, record heat of 2022.Whilst Mediterranean varieties of our native species - of alder and oak etc can thrive in the hotter summers, many of our native species will not. Yet guidance and policy prohibits planting of non-native species, even though insect species can and do also eat these Medetarranen varieties as well as our native ones. However, some of our native species are more tolerant of the increased incidence of hot and dry summer conditions but with very wet spells and the endless wetness and mild conditions that seem to increasingly characterise the modern UK winter! I have found the following species establish and grow best through these extremes and can form native hedge planting schemes as well as woodland mosaic plantings. Buckthorn - Rhamnus catharticus seems very drought tolerant tolerant, and Euonymus europeus (spindle) too. Hazel (Corulus avellana) and Cherry (Prunus avian and P. Padus) also do well. Prunus spinosa (sloe) seems to do well once established but can be invasive. Hawthorn (Crateagus monogyna) and guelder rose (Viburnum opulus) increasingly need a tree spat to retain moisture to ensure establishment, but this is helpful to all whip sized hedge plants. Broom (Cytissus scoparis) and gorse (Ulex europeus) are native shrubs well used to dry heath and for trees, pines (such as Pinus sylvestrus), will do well in a warmer world. Oaks, both pedunculate and sessile, are hard to establish and best planted as seedlings, with a water bag and tree spat. These trees have struggled, as also with beech, ash, holly, birch and hornbeam, but the latter (Capinus betulus) seems better able to cope than beech. The UK has had a history of importing exotic species and there are more Sequoiadendron giganticum in the uk than in the whole of their native California!! Blending some Medetarranean specie varieties into a predominantly native mix might help build in future resilience. It seems the warmer seas will seal in the current warmer world temperature, and it is a sign that the heating will grow like an arthropod - in leaps and bounds with plateau periods between. The plantings of the future may be very different and the characterisation we base our landscape asessments upon may then need to be updated!! The debate on how to plant in a changed world has just begun!!

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Did Anyone See that BBC interview with Liz Truss?I am at a loss to comprehend how anyone could be that deluded!! And Liz is my MP - what an embarrassment is that!!!! She had a 30,000 majority at the last election. How the heck did that happen. Needless to say my vote was not one of them. She backs a soon to be convicted US fellon, would love Farage the Brexit beast to be a Tory MP and believes her fortunate short time as PM was not her fault, despite her sacking of her fall-guy Quasi- Quatang, but instead she was the victim of the deep state, out to get her!! That dreadful OBR!! She earnestly believes she was not at fault for the rapid interest rate rises, nearly crashing the bond market, causing the once respected UK to become the laughing stock of the world, and she earnestly believes all would have been fine and dandy but for the BoE and the OBR. I presume she also believes climate change doesn’t exist and rivers should be polluted to keep water bills low and water company dividends high!!. I mean - what a classic narcissistic delusion!! Like all parties in trouble, they always seem to lurch further to the extreme. How far right will Liz go??? Sad times that this is even given air-time. It could be a scene from the satirical Spitting Image programme, except you’d think the dialogue too daft to be real.I feel like I am waking up in some paralllel universe where everyone is dropped up on wacky-backy!! Beam me up Scotty!!

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Best Landscape Hedges for Climate ChangeHedges are the primary space creating and space defining soft materials for the landscape architect. For new housing plot frontages, we use hedges for defensible space creation, to define the curtilage, i.e. the ownership boundary, screen cars, soften the street scene, & mitigate wind speed, for shelter. These hedges provide valuable foraging & nesting opportunities for birds & other wildlife. Even non-native species, such as Viburnum tinus (laurustinus), Prunus laurocerasus “Otto Leukyen” (laurel) & Euonymus japonica (evergreen spindle), have been adopted by UK insect species, such as the eyed hawk and privet hawk moth larvae, & their flowers are great for bees too. However, some species are failing due to the affects of climate change, with hotter & drier summers, & winters very much wetter. What can we plant that is reliable, cost effective and will continue to thrive & function in the way we intend? Box (Buxus sempervirens) was a staple for low hedges - (used where plots have short frontages), but since the blight, & more damaging still, the dreaded box moth, which have invaded from overseas, this hardy & reliable plant has failed on many new sites recently. For my own garden, I have retained all my box latterly, using proprietary off-the-shelf products like Roseclear Ultra, spraying every 3 weeks in spring and autumn, keeping both moth & blight at bay. Box is so drought tolerant & tolerant of wet too, which makes it a perfect climate change plant, but for these new annoying pests, which make the plant impractical for commercial planting schemes, which wont receive the aftercare you can provide in a private garden.Instead, for small hedges, Euonymus “Jean Hughs” is best for surviving both drought & wet winter weather; forming a tidy hedge in a variety of soils and micro-climates, with “Emerald Gaiety” a good second. For medium height hedges, it is hard to beat varieties of Euonymus japonica - with “Aureamarginata” being my favourite, but also others such as “Bravo” being sound choices. For the larger hedges, ideal for the widest front gardens of 3m and more, I like Viburnum tinus (in various cultivars), & Elaeagnus ebbingei, though both need to be 2.25m from any standard strip foundations, for NHBC purposes.For the biggest hedges, as screening, & to be 6m from building foundations, Portuguese laurel (Prunus lusitania) is reliable & tolerant, which also has a variegated form. There are many more species, but for climate change - the above list are those with greatest resilience. Hedges of the very popular Photinia “Red Robin” and “Little red Robbin” have become very variable, doing Ok in shade, but readily failing in full sun and in hot dry years, failing altogether. Hedges of semi-tender species such as Escallonia (e.g. “Appple Blossum)” despite the warm and wet winters are still too risky, because when we do get those short cold spells - seemingly every December, they are sharp!!

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