The brief
We were commissioned to prepare an illustrative landscape masterplan to support a pre-application and outline scheme. The drawing’s job was to communicate, at a glance, how a substantial new development could sit within its surrounding rural landscape — not as a piece of detail design, but as a strategic landscape framework that the design team and the planning authority could test the principle against.
Our approach
The masterplan reads as a single coordinated landscape strategy: the existing hedgerow and tree network is retained and reinforced as the primary structural framework, with new native woodland blocks added along the most exposed boundaries to soften long-distance views. A network of new and enhanced hedgerows knits the development into the surrounding field pattern, and the layout is broken up by a series of green corridors that combine pedestrian routes, biodiversity margins and SuDS attenuation features. Planting schedules sit alongside the plan, setting species mix, sizes and pot specifications for each landscape role.
The detail
The illustrative scale of the drawing makes it possible to communicate strategic intent without committing to detail too early in the planning process — important for masterplans that need to remain flexible enough to absorb the inevitable refinements that come with detailed design. The plan was prepared to a level of resolution that supported the pre-application meeting, the outline submission, and the subsequent reserved-matters work, with each level of detail building on the same coordinated landscape vision.
Working on a similar project?
If you are preparing a planning application that needs landscape evidence — from a single dwelling to a major EIA scheme — we can help. Tell us about your site and we will respond with a fixed fee and programme within one working day.
